


Only Break What's Yours

by Meddalarksen, victoriousscarf



Series: Through the Darkness [1]
Category: The Hobbit (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Brief talk about suicide, Death Wish, Dwarves are vampire hunters, Elves are vampires, Incest, Multi, Ori and Fili are non romantic soul mates, The Line of Durin does not understand this emotion business, because immortality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-27
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2017-12-06 16:18:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 37
Words: 293,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/737667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meddalarksen/pseuds/Meddalarksen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoriousscarf/pseuds/victoriousscarf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Since the time of Durin, his line has hunted vampires in an attempt to keep normal humans safe from the night. Centuries later, when that ages old hatred flares up and seems to be once again coming to a head when Thorin's youngest nephew is taken by the vampires, portals to hell start opening beneath their very feet. </p><p>With the help of a meddling--well, whatever he is-- and a resistant fae, the two sides must learn to work together. Preferably before the world ends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Eternity Gets Boring

**Author's Note:**

> So [ this gifset happened](http://victoriousscarf.tumblr.com/post/46053314337/imalwaysblazing-vampires) and that plus a rewatch of Buffy that was making me thinking about a vampire hunter au meshed and spiraled into inspiration and this happened. 
> 
> Title inspired by "Apres Moi" by Regina Spektor, the themesong of these characters forever. 
> 
> All the elves are vampires because immortality.
> 
> Now with [a soundtrack! ](http://8tracks.com/victoriousscarf/some-legends-are-told-some-turn-to-dust-or-to-gold)

The world felt different.

He opened his eyes and for a moment he couldn't see anything, as he expected in the darkness. But then his eyes adjusted and he could see despite the utter blackness. While he adjusted to that, voices started to filter through the haze. 

And he was hungry. He was so hungry, and he could never remember such hunger.

Standing over him in the dark room with his arms crossed over his chest, holding his elbows as he scowled at Thranduil, Elrond darted a glance toward the newest turned, "What were you thinking?  You've done nothing more than bring the hunters down harder on us."

"He clearly wasn't," a strong voice still in the shadows said and it took the form on the ground time to remember what his name was, through the hunger. The hunger was everything but he remembered.

 _Kili_. His name had been Kili. He wasn't sure it still was.

"It simply happened," Thranduil said, normally blond hair dark and Kili thought he recognized that one, had heard of him in times past but he couldn't remember. 

"It just happened?"  Elrond snapped.  "That's your justification for turning the hunter's nephew?"  His hands moved in an aborted motion like he couldn't decide whether to strangle Thranduil or rake them through his own black hair.

"It," Thranduil protested, not quite growling but he bared his fangs. "It was an accident. Would you rather I let him die?"

"It would have been wiser," the voice from the shadows said and Galadriel stepped out, silver and golden hair glowing in the dark. "A death would anger them not--not this," she said and when Kili finally pushed himself up on his hands her head whipped around to meet his eyes. "He's awakened."

Elrond's lips curled back slightly in response to the sight of Thranduil's fangs, "Did you even think to have something once he woke?"

"There wasn't time and then you lot came in," he growled back.

"And of course you have nothing in the near vicinity.  He's in no state to be able to hunt yet, and dawn's near enough that if we're to go out and make it back, we'll be cutting it close before sunlight," Elrond shook his head.  "You never think.  That's always been your problem."

The door opened and Legolas entered, his blond hair pulled back, "Ada," he started to say and froze when he caught sight of Kili, "Why...why is there a hunter in the front room?"

Thranduil turned. "He's not a hunter anymore."

"Your father has made him one of us," Galadriel said, moving across the room and bending down on one graceful knee to look Kili over. "Do remember your name?" she asked, tilting her head and her long hair cascaded over her shoulders.

"Kili," he rasped.

"Interesting. Not all remember that at first, or ever."

Legolas looked uncertain at that and very uncomfortable with being in the same room as the former hunter, rocking back on his heels toward the door, "The twins haven't gotten back yet. Sometimes they bring prey home. Shall I see if they have?"

"Yes, he'll need it more then they," Thranduil murmured as Galadriel tilted her head the other way.

"Do you remember who you are?" She meant beyond the name as he’d already answered that.

"Yes," he said again, trying to focus on her face and not the way his hearing had changed, or his sight, or the hunger. "Yes, I do. And what I was."

Still hesitating, Legolas glanced toward Galadriel, not certain whether he should act without her confirmation.  Elrond spoke quietly, "I have to agree with your sire for once.  I recommend he be fed."

"Go," she said, waving a hand in his direction without turning her head.

That was all it took for Legolas to vanish out the door to see if they were in luck. Elrond watched him go before looking back to Galadriel and the newest of their number, "Do we honestly think this will work? And how long before we can expect the hunters to come after us for this?"

"I'm sure you've noticed, Elrond, but they're always after us," she said, reaching out and smoothing a hand down Kili's cheek and he wanted, suddenly to bite it. Though he knew better, there was no blood that he could drink there.

"Specifically for this, milady," Elrond replied evenly.  "It's one thing to be hunted while we hunt, another to risk attack in our home.  This may be what they would need to come to the nest."

There was a scuffle on the stairs and a soft growl and thud before Legolas dragged the prey into the room.  Bound and stunned, the man he held wasn't struggling, but still had a strongly beating heart. Elladan and Elrohir trailed after him, miffed at having their meal taken, but curious about the new vampire too. 

"They would still have to find us," she said, rising in one long motion and stepping back, Kili's eyes on the human and suddenly unblinking. "Which they have not yet. Besides, no matter how you worry, it is done."

Legolas considered the most recently turned before shoving the human forward, sending it crashing between them.  He'd already eaten that night and could faintly remember the initial hunger.  Stepping back, he leaned against the wall to listen to their elders.  Elrond sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "You're right of course.  For how little it stops me worrying."

"You worry too much," Thranduil said snidely as Kili froze, past warring with how much he wanted to eat, his fangs having grown out without him realizing.

"Eat," Galadriel said and no one could disobey that command.

"I happen to worry just enough," Elrond replied with a soft growl, drawing his temper back before he turned on Thranduil.

"Worry shall not help us," Galadriel said, watching the angry hunch of Kili's shoulders as he drank, his eyes squeezed closed.

Elrond opened his mouth to speak again but Legolas spoke first with his gaze focused on Kili, "Antagonism's going to make it worse on him.  The transition's hard enough."

"It is," Galadriel agreed, offering Legolas a vague smile. "We will talk about it more in the morning, when he sleeps."

Elrond frowned, glancing at Legolas as the blond spoke again, "It's also hard enough with only a few people."

"Ah, do you mean us?" Elladan asked, and grimacing slightly, Elrond nodded once, "We'll speak after dawn then."  He pushed the twins out of the room with him as he left. 

Galadriel waited until he was gone before leveling Thranduil with a long look. "You were foolish," she said softly and he scowled.

"I am not of your line," he reminded her tartly before shaking his head. Inclining her own, looking more amused than angry she swept from the room, door clicking closed behind her.

Legolas watched her go and glanced at his sire before turning his attention back to Kili as he spoke, "She's not wrong, though, Ada."

Thranduil scowled but before he could reply Kili jerked his head up and pushed himself back on the floor from where the human's heart still beat. "You should kill him," Thranduil said, voice low.

"No," Kili shook his head, hair hanging in his eyes.

"You're not going to afford to have a conscience," Thranduil remarked, tone still mild. "It would be kinder to him now."

"There are others in this building who would do it if you won't," Legolas supplied quietly.  "But you can't leave prey breathing.  It's a good way to cause the hunters to find you."

Thranduil sighed as Kili's expression turned mutinous. "Legolas, take him away," he said, waving a hand. "We'll work on rules later. But are you sure you're not still hungry?"

Kili just narrowed his eyes and he shrugged.

Legolas frowned, wanting to protest the orders, but deciding that it was best to pick his battles and that was not one he wanted to have.  He hauled the unconscious human out of the room and handed him off to one of the others with instructions to give it to those that still most needed to eat that night.

Watching Kili, Thranduil took a careful step forward. "You'll need to rest when the sun rises," he said, holding out a hand.

"You're the one who did this," Kili murmured, voice still rough and he wanted to scream but he wasn't sure his vocal cords would allow it. "You should have just killed me."

"That would have been a waste," Thranduil said. "Come," he held his hand out again and motioned with it and instead of taking it Kili bowed over on the ground. Once his forehead was resting against the cold floor he covered his ears and hoped if he could block out the world and stop hearing it would all go away. Watching him a long moment Thranduil took a step back and leaned against the wall, waiting. When Kili came back to himself he held out his hand again.

This time it was taken.

-0-

Fili woke up, eyes groggy and he frowned at the ceiling before turning his head. The other bed jammed into the alcove of the room was empty, and he'd fallen asleep with a book on his chest. Voices were yelling downstairs and he couldn't believe he had managed to fall asleep before Kili came home. Pushing himself up, he closed the book and went to the head of the stairs to see what was going on as Thorin's voice bellowed up the stairs for him.

Fear heavy in his chest, he clattered down the stairs, coming to a stop in the foyer. "What? What is it?"

Dis was leaning against the wall of the foyer, white as a sheet, her gaze focused on Bofur who stood before their leader with his hat doffed and his eyes downcast.  Bofur tugged on a lock of his hair as he glanced up at Thorin again, "We got separated.  I looped back around but I was too late, they were dragging him off.  He'd been bit and there was blood on his lips."

Fili froze, still braced against the stairs. When he remembered to breathe again he shot a look at Dis and then one to Thorin. The leader of their band stood, head down and hands braced on the small side table, hair that was getting too long again falling into his face. He quickly went over who had gone out that night and who was home. But they were all braced as if waiting for a storm to come down the stairs and he felt his insides squirm at the possibility of what he feared.

"Not Kili," he said, voice hollow and sounding wrong to his own ears. "He wasn't--He went with Gloin tonight I thought. He--" Thorin shook his head slightly and the motion caught Fili's eyes.

"Gloin was injured," Bofur murmured in response.  "Oin's trying to see to him now. He might need the hospital."  Dis drew a sharp breath, finally pushing off the wall to move to her brother's side, placing a hand next to his on the table so it would be visible to him rather than on his shoulder.

Thorin didn't move but he nodded slightly in acknowledgement of her.

"Kili," Fili repeated, the sound almost a keen. "They took Kili?" Bofur had danced around the issue since he came down the stairs. 

Dis looked to Bofur again, keeping her voice steady, "You're sure you saw what you saw?"

"It was dark enough I may have been mistaken about the traded blood, ma'am, but the bite on his neck was clear enough," his tone was muted and sorrowful that he had to bear that news to them.

Fili stood frozen for another moment before he was suddenly moving, sleep gone from his motions when he punched Bofur in the cheek and slammed him against the wall. "You let him go?" he screamed, certain that would wake up anyone still sleeping.

Bofur cried out but didn't fight back, grimacing as his head knocked back against the wall, "I couldn't do anything for him.  Gloin was bad hurt and I had to get him back here."

"So you left him?" Fili demanded, shaking Bofur again. Later, perhaps, he would feel bad for Gimli's sake as much as Gloin's for saying that. He felt anger, not realizing yet why he was angry, numbness keeping the realization out.

"Fili!" Thorin barked but his nephew only shook Bofur again.

Bofur met Fili's eyes, "If I could have brought him back to you, I would have.  I swear I would."

Dis stepped away from her brother and to her eldest's side reaching to touch his arm, "Fili, stop this.  Let him go."

Muscles still tight Fili didn't move for a moment before dropping Bofur and stepping back. "I don't believe you," he said, meeting Bofur's eyes in turn.

Bofur dropped his gaze, picking up his hat from where he'd dropped it as he spoke softly, "Whether you believe me or no is your right. I'm a coward, I'll be the first to admit that.  But I stand by what I said.  Gloin was injured and although I _may_ have been mistaken I don't believe I was when I say that I saw traded blood on your brother's lips. If I had thought that I would be bringing your brother back to you, I would have."

Shaking his head, Fili spared another glance for Thorin who was still held immobile by his grief  and another for his mother before pushing past the gathered onlookers and back up the stairs. He was sure he could see Ori's eyes peeking out from the railing and he slammed back into the room he'd shared with Kili. They'd always shared it because there wasn't space and they couldn't really imagine a reason to change their ways.

He wanted to rip it apart and didn't dare touch a thing of Kili's in case Bofur was wrong, because he had to be wrong but Fili screamed again in case he was right.

-0-

Bofur's shoulders sagged when Fili left and he glanced at Dis who murmured a quiet dismissal that sent him slinking up the stairs to his own room where he locked himself in.  Dis drew a deep breath before turning to the onlookers and ordering them on their way before she moved to her brother's side again, "Thorin."

He grunted, still not having moved and when he lifted his head to look at her it looked as if it took all his willpower to move that much. She lay a gentle hand on his arm, murmuring, "Let's get you upstairs."

"I can't--" he started. "We need to plan, we have to--"

"Thorin," his sister closed her eyes, unable to believe that she was going to say this, "We both know it's too late.  No matter what's happened."

"If he--if he's been turned," Thorin said, no inflection in his voice. "If he remembers--"

Dis swallowed hard against the knot she could feel forming--there would be time for that later, "Then, then we deal with that.  Standing in the middle of the foyer does no good to anyone, though."

"He could remember where we are, what we do," he said faintly.

"No matter if he does or not," she murmured, feeling something inside of her break as she spoke, "it won't be him.  If he has been turned, it's no longer him.  No matter what memories it holds.  It still cannot cross this threshold without an invitation and has no beating heart.  We deal with that chance if it comes to pass.  Tonight we can do no more."

He nodded slowly before looking back up the stairs. "Fili..."

Dis could sense her calm facade cracking at that, her voice taking on a faint tremor, "He will not easily mend if he ever does.  I hope for his sake, Kili has fallen and will not stand again."

"But tonight," Thorin said and couldn't quite figure out how to finish his thought.

"Tonight he's caught between belief and denial.  Tonight is a night for grief, brother and when morning dawns we shall see what remains of any of us," she murmured, her gaze drifting toward the stairs her son had ascended.  "They were always so close."

"They were," Thorin agreed, still incapable of thinking of walking up the stairs.

Dis took a shuddering breath before finally admitting, barely audibly, "I have to go up before I break here."

He nodded, slinging an arm around her waist and taking the first step, hoping the next one would be easier. Dis slid her arm around her brother, lending him what strength she could even as she focused on the warmth of his touch to ground herself.

-0-

Not even an hour later Ori pushed the door to Fili's room--his alone now and that thought made his head and heart hurt--having been unable to sleep. Moonlight came through the window and Fili had lit a candle and those were the only two points of light. Fili himself sat with his back to the desk, knees up and head bowed and he didn't stir when Ori entered.

His things were in disarray, and Ori had to pick his way carefully through them, noticing that it was only Fili's own things he had thrown or torn, Kili's possessions still sitting pristine. Leaving the cup of tea he cradled next to his chest on the desk by Fili's shoulder Ori retreated by a different path and closed the door softly behind him.

He fully expected if the sun rose in the morning--and why should it when everything had gone so wrong?--the cup of tea would still be there, stone cold and untouched. But making the tea was all he could do.

-0-

Bofur had barely slept the night previous, but he hauled himself off of the couch he used instead of a bed and ran a comb over his short brown hair, glancing in the small mirror hung on one wall and quickly looking away from the bruise that was blossoming on his left cheekbone.  He picked up his hat and grabbed his coat, seriously considering taking a long walk and not coming back until just before sunset.  He exited his room and headed downstairs, pausing briefly outside of Fili's door but shook his head and moved into the entryway instead.

"Good morning," Ori said from where he was curled on the couch, having seen both his brothers walk out the door to their respective jobs. They did not make much money, but between that and the odd jobs others held it was enough to keep the family afloat. He had a book propped open, looking like it was from Dori’s collection about supernatural creatures.

Startling very slightly at that, Bofur looked toward the door, but changed his direction and joined Ori, "Hello.  Your brother's would have a fit if they saw you readin' that."

"They have a fit every time they realize I know what a vampire is," Ori remarked dryly back.

That earned a weak smile, "They just want you to be safe."

"Well, they chose a really great profession for that," Ori remarked, turning the page over.

"You know it's not always so much of a choice," Bofur murmured, looking toward the stairs and carefully leaning against the arm of the couch, resting his chin on his hand and covering the bruise on his cheek as he did so.

"And yet Dori seems convinced if I keep my head down and pretend I don't know what's happening I'll go to art school and nothing will ever phase me," Ori said, watching him cover the bruise. "Have you ever put ice on that? It looked like he hit you pretty hard."

Bofur shifted his fingers unconsciously to better hide the discoloration, "I hadn't, no.  It'll fade and the swelling's not bad.  Can you blame them?  Your brothers I mean.  They want more for you than this."

"He hit you with his right hand though," Ori mused, rising and tucking the book away behind a pillow. "And my brothers may want many things, but no one gave Fili or... they didn't really get offered a choice here."

"Wouldn't have mattered if he'd led with the left, he's just about equally strong with both," Bofur murmured before he shook his head.  "They didn't get a choice, no.  But your brothers are trying to give you one.  An option that gets you away from all of this.  From the dark streets and the death and the monsters in the night.  And I ask again, can you blame them?"

"I can't blame them," Ori said, moving to the kitchen and pulling open the freezer. "But thinking that I will never be in danger--Look," he said, pulling out an ice pack and wrapping it in a towel. I'm really not saying I want to go looking for trouble or danger or anything like that but look at our lives. We're hunters, we're supposed to hunt the darkness and it's in our blood. One day I'm going to get myself in danger and trouble and if I have no idea what to do, I'll be dead. So I'd rather know and try to avoid it anyway. And Fili leads with his left more than his right."

“For what consolation that is.  He's still damn strong, and he was angry and hurting last night--it adds strength." Accepting the ice pack with a murmured thanks, Bofur cradled it against his cheek, wincing as it made contact with his skin, "Hunters, sure.  And we see how well that does for everyone involved."

"Frankly I'm surprised he didn't hit me when I left tea," Ori said and shrugged. "Well it's a life that sucks. We live we breathe we pretend to have jobs and every night, like for the last several hundred years we go out at night and see how many vampires we can kill. It's heroic and noble and in our blood, isn't it?"

"Heroic and noble and suicidal and what good does it do in the long run?"  Bofur asked before he thought about it, looking at Ori.  "And I don't know where the 'we' and 'our' are from in this conversation."

"Well, my family has this in our blood, I'm still trying to figure out what you and yours are doing here," Ori said, leaning against the counter. "I'm not sure it's supposed to do good, it's about killing vampires. I'd say it's a vendetta but I like to think we might be saving people by doing it. We in a family sense not in a me sense as I'm not allowed."

"I've no idea what we're doing here either," Bofur sighed.  "I don't fit here, that's for sure.  But here we are and I doubt we could do anything but stay.  Killing vampires is all well and good, but if we lose our own, is it worth it?"

"I'd like to think we're protecting those who don't know," Ori said softly. "But I can't convince myself of that most days."

"And if Kili really has been turned?"

"What do you mean?" Ori asked, tilting his head. "Do you mean like if we've utterly failed? I mean if he's dead we've already done that."

"I mean what then?" Bofur responded, looking away, "What happens when Fili comes face to face with him and forgets, or hesitates because it looks like his brother?"

"You think I would hesitate," Fili said behind him in the doorway and Ori jumped, having not seen nor heard him. His hair was in disarray and there were deep circles under his eyes.

Bofur paled and turned to face Fili, "That, no, that's not what I....That's not exactly what I..."  He swallowed and tried again, "I don't know.  I don't think you would, but I also don't think it's easy to face a loved one who's turned."

"Would you know?" Fili snapped, wanting to wince when he saw the bruise and the ice pack but his anger not letting him.

"Aye, I do know," Bofur responded before he realized how close he was to admitting something he never spoke of.  "It wasn't a sibling.  It wasn't someone like Kili, but I know what it is to have familiar eyes looking at you at the other end of the stake."

In the silence that fell Ori moved suddenly. "I'll make the tea," he said, bustling around to do that and try not to think about the way Fili was staring at Bofur.

"Is that why you're here?" Fili asked, not wanting to admit how much of the conversation he had listened to while he decided whether to enter the kitchen or not. The thought of food made him sick but he understood too well how much his body needed it. And he still wanted to make his uncle proud, even if it meant taking care of himself. "A vendetta kick?"

Bofur's expression closed off at that, wanting more than anything to retreat and not deal with any of this, and he shifted the ice pack against his cheek, giving himself some sort of excuse to look away from Fili even briefly, "No.  You really think a coward like me could hold up a vengeance anything?  I'm here because my brother and cousin are."

"It's not much of a reason is it?" Fili said, voice cold and Ori looked over from where he was fiddling with the kettle.

"Family's always the reason," he said and Fili's eyes snapped over to him.

Bofur closed his eyes briefly before pulling the ice pack from his cheek and setting the hand towel on the counter.  He put the pack back into the freezer and glanced in the fridge to make sure he had an excuse, "We're just about out of eggs and milk.  I'll go out an' get some."

Both the younger men turned their gaze to him in startlement. "What?" Ori asked and Fili dropped his gaze down, trying to convince himself not to throw up. Because what did eggs or milk or hurt feelings mean anymore?

Raking a hand over his hair, Bofur shook his head, he was so far beyond not ready to be in the same room as Fili and he would take any excuse, no matter how sudden, to retreat. He drew in a deep breath before he finally glanced at the golden-haired man and murmured, "I'm sorry I didn't do more for your brother."  He didn't know what more he could have done without risking all three of them, but knowing him there were probably several things that didn't cross his mind because they held just a bit too much danger.

Fili's entire body tensed and he looked like he wanted to punch Bofur again. "Go get the eggs," he snarled and slammed out of the room, the thought of food entirely forgotten.

Bofur managed to hold himself steady and not flinch like he wanted to at that.  He told Ori he'd be back later and slipped quietly out the kitchen.  The front door closed behind him a minute later and he leaned against it for a long moment, biting down on the first knuckle of his right hand to hold back the urge to scream that he could feel in his throat. It took him a handful of minutes before he was finally able to push off the door and head down the street toward the nearest supermarket.

Ori watched them both go before pulling the kettle off the stove and making the tea with automatic motions. Lifting the book he'd been reading he hesitated before going and leaving the main mansion to return the book to Dori's library.

-0-

Several days later grief and pain hung heavy over the mansion. Thorin was only seen on his way out to the hunt, ink stains from maps on his hands.

Fed up with everything to the point where Nori rarely came in from the former game keepers cottage anymore, he declared that they were going out to a party. Ori had turned wide eyes on him and Balin had huffed. When Nori took the steps up to Fili's room Fili had looked like he was sincerely considering breaking his fingers and instead slammed the door in his face.

However, Nori was persistent, which was how Gimli, he, and a few of the others had ended up at a club, the music pounding in Gimli's ears and only making him feel more miserable about the entire thing. Such a public place was nowhere to grieve. With a dark sigh he shook his head, looking across the dance floor and wondering how Nori could be dancing. Not only was the loss of Kili like a hole in his chest he couldn’t fill, but he’d been visiting his father in the hospital whenever he could spare a moment and the smell of that place always made him want to curl up on the floor and not move again. He rubbed his eyes, aimlessly looking around. Across the room a flash of blond caught his attention but didn't fully draw it around. 

In the shadows on the other side of the club, Legolas looked around the dark club with a grimace.  The shadows that existed in the building were an ally, but the noise was far too loud, and the humans were more plentiful than he cared to deal with.  He didn't mind a solitary stalk, or even a small gathering--they often gave the best sorts of reward--but the press of people in the club was too much for his senses.  He slunk along the edges of the crowd, stopping next to Galadriel and speaking just loudly enough for her to hear, "Why here, tonight?"

"Because it is intriguing," she said, waving a hand back over her shoulder as if to dismiss his annoyance. "I should have brought Arwen," she said, shaking her head. "She at least appreciates the potential. There are many lost souls to be found in a place like this." With that she stepped forward and across the floor Gimli froze.

He watched the tall graceful figure breeze through the dance floor as one in a trance, enrapture by her height, the way her golden and silver hair that almost glowed was twisted and tied back from her face to flow down her back as she moved, scanning the floor.

Not seeming to notice him, he followed her anyway.

Legolas bit back a response that Arwen preferred to play with her prey in a dance half the time rather than the hunt itself.  He watched Galadriel sweep away, his eyes roaming around the club for any out of the ordinary motion and he spotted the compact form following the starlit lady.  His eyes narrowed very slightly and he slunk through the club, still sensing for a worthy prey for himself but never losing sight of the man following Galadriel--recognizing the way the other moved as one who was not born to the darkness but who had adopted it.

With every sway of her hips and tilt of her head, Gimli was more and more sure that the woman he felt so enraptured by was far from human with her lethal grace and dark pant suit and starlit hair. Yet he kept moving forward anyway, wanting to see more, to better understand why he was still following.

Legolas watched for another moment before moving to intercept Galadriel.  He fell into step next to her, "Do you know you've entranced a hunter, milady?"

"Have I?" she hummed, shaking her hair back over her back again. "That could be annoying. Scare him away would you?"

He inclined his head to her, "Of course."  Melding back into the crowd again, the younger vampire slunk up next to Gimli and caught him by the shoulder, speaking into his ear, "Do you know who you're following?"

Turning quickly, Gimli tried to hit whoever was so close behind him in the face, not quite managing it though and he wasn't sure if it didn't have anything to do with how inhumanly beautiful the other was or not. Dodging the swing smoothly, Legolas caught the hunter's hand and used that and his momentum to start propelling him toward the backdoor.  He dragged the other out the door, tossing him away from the entrance.

"The hell do you think you're doing?" Gimli snarled, a horrible feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.

"Let's just say that you're better off with me out here than you were following her in there," Legolas looked him over, considering whether to cause more trouble and permanently deal with the young hunter or just warn him off.

Gimli paused, looking him over once in the dim light before digging in his coat for where he was sure he had a stake stashed.  "That I'm not sure I believe."

Legolas' brow arched and he slowly strolled nearer, "You were following the starlit lady.  You've heard of her, I'm sure."

Gimli paused, thinking about the lore he'd read, growing up on his father's knees and around the other hunters. "Damn," he managed before pulling the stake out and holding it in front of him. "Stay there."

The vampire just looked bemused at that, taking another two steps forward as a challenge and keeping his eyes on Gimli's, "You sure you want to use that?"

"If I have to," he replied. "Because you're like her, aren't you? Except not nearly as old. And probably a lot less powerful as a result."

"Do you want to test that theory?  What if you're wrong?  What if I'm like you?"  His voice dropped to nearly a purr.

"You're not human," Gimli replied, meeting his eyes. "Which means you're probably a vampire."

"What a clever lad you are," Legolas murmured.  "Do you have a name, clever hunter?"

"Do you?" Gimli demanded. "If I looked into the books would you be there?"

"I asked first," he replied lowly, taking another pace nearer.

"I am not so stupid as to give someone as dangerous as you my name," Gimli said, finally giving in and taking a step backward.

"I could probably take a guess, given enough time.  You've evidently been raised knowing about those who make the night their home which indicates a hunter's heritage."

"Hunters aren't the only ones who pay attention to the likes of you," Gimli said, even though it was entirely true.

"No, but they're the ones most likely to be carrying a stake.  And currently they're the ones to have the deep grief that hangs on you like a pall," Legolas replied, stepping closer again.

Gimli opened his mouth, not daring to ask if Kili had been turned. No one had confirmed it yet and he ducked his head down rather than ask. Taking another step nearer, Legolas reached up to touch Gimli's cheek and trail his fingers down and over the hunter's pulse, "So, little hunter, will you share your name if I offer you one?"

Gimli jerked back and ended up with his back pressed against the alley wall. "What?"

"A name for a name.  You asked for mine and I asked for yours, it seems a trade in your favor since you _might_ learn more about me from my name than I would with yours," he murmured, placing his hand flat on the wall next to Gimli's head.

"Are all vampires this touchy?" Gimli demanded, holding the stake up to the vampire's chest but his hand was shaking and he was barely pressing it against his clothing. "Gimli then, if it would please you so much."

"Legolas," came the response.  "And we, like you, have some who are more tactile than others."  He glanced down at the stake, "You've never actually encountered one of us have you?"

"Surely you couldn't be surprised," Gimli managed, hand still shaking. "I've not heard of you."

Hand rising to coil around the stake as well, Legolas shook his head, "I'm not surprised you've never heard of me.  I'm hardly old enough to have left my mark."

"But you intend to I'm sure," Gimli said, eyes widening and trying to dislodge Legolas' hand from his stake.

"Isn't that what everyone wants in the end?" the vampire tightened his grip on the stake, but didn't move to take it from the hunter.

Gimli tried kicking him in the shin. "Not everyone, you know. Don't try and project your desires on everyone else."

That earned a faint growl when Gimli's foot connected, "Then what is it that you desire, clever hunter?"

"For you to let me go," Gimli said. "To live life entirely in peace without danger or troubles and a happy family. The chance to create something beautiful. Glory can be for those who wish to die young. Since I can't have those things though, I'll take killing as many vampires as I can."

"What's to keep you from creating beauty while doing so?" Legolas murmured.

"It's different to devote your life to something else," Gimli said and shook his head, trying to push the other away without staking him though he was starting to want to.

Legolas considered that for a moment before stepping back, releasing the mortal.  He watched him carefully, "You would devote your life to creation if you could?"

"Yes," he said and got a firmer grip on the stake finally, holding it out. "Now what is that to you?"

"It's the most surprising thing you've said since we've been standing here is all," came the response.

"And why is that surprising?"

"Because I don't expect hunters to think much about creation."  He backed off enough to lean against the opposite wall, "What would you create?"

"Anything!" he snapped, taking a step forward now, gesturing with the stake instead of even trying to position it as a weapon. "Bridges, homes for those who have none, sculptures forged of metal and displayed to make a place more beautiful. Anything that isn't this."

Legolas tilted his head to one side, looking the mortal over, "And that's what I find surprising.  I mean, I'm sure there are more of you who would rather have a different life, but I don't think I've heard much of that sort of hunter."

"Because the most vocal would never be," he said quietly and shook his head, not wanting to turn his back on a vampire but suddenly wanting to get very far away.

Looking toward the door back to the club and remembering that he still hadn't finished his hunt that night, Legolas nodded very slightly, "I suppose that's true.  Go carefully this night, clever Gimli, and learn not to hesitate with that stake.  Not all will let you go due to your family's grief."

For a moment Gimli considered throwing the stake at him in anger but knew it would be a useless and petty gesture, walking backwards into the club and trying to weave around the dancers there until he reached Nori. "We're going home!" he yelled in his ear and Nori jumped.

"What? Why?"

"Because Galadriel is on the hunt you idiot, and who knows how many others!"

Nori paled and looked like he was considering protesting again before simply nodding.

Legolas slipped inside after him, watching his progress through the club before turning his attention to his own hunt with the intention of being back to the vampire's mansion well before dawn.

-0-

Pushing the book cart from the back of the stacks, Bilbo paused, pulling a step-stool over and climbed up to put the higher books away.  He wasn't especially tall for a human.  He paused when he encountered a recently added volume on vampires and he set it on the cart.  Once he was through with returning the books, he ended up at the main desk, setting the most recent vampire-based acquisitions next to him. 

Thorin Durin hadn't been in in well over a week, and he was doing his best not to glance at the door to the library every five minutes as he read.  There was a lot you could tell about a person from their borrowing history, but Thorin's confused him.  The man spent much of his time checking out books on the occult, but occasionally would pick up a book completely unrelated, and the librarian found him intriguing.

Luckily for him, considering that Thorin had not been in for over a week, that day he pushed open the doors. Balin had finally won the argument about him walking out of the house for something other than work. When Thorin had agreed to go to the library Balin had winced and then agreed that that would be wise.

He paused when he saw Bilbo at the desk, looking over at the books next to him and raising a brow.

The librarian offered a faint smile, answering the unspoken question, "They're the new acquisitions.  You tend to look for the newer volumes, I thought I'd save you the search."

"Odd, considering how long it has been," he said, lifting one of the books and looking like he wanted to throw it across the room rather than read it, grief still an obvious shroud over him as well as anger.

Bilbo's gaze swept over the man as he picked up on the emotions.  He spoke gently, "What's happened?"

Thorin paused, the book still in his hand before he set it back down. "Nothing," he said, an obvious lie but he could hardly explain that it was not just grief over his nephew, his youngest child in every way that mattered. But grief over what he might have become. "It's not," he tried again and decided it would have been better to remain locked in his room than follow Balin's advice.

Brown eyes following the motion of the book, the librarian nodded very slightly, "Is there anything I can do?"

"Such as?" Thorin asked, pushing back the thick black hair that was starting to grow too long again.

"I don't know. I don't know what's happened, but it's not nothing," Bilbo considered his words carefully.  "Even if it's just someone to talk to, or to have listen to you.  I mean, if that's something you needed."

"I live in a manor full of people who would listen if I spoke," Thorin said, except that Fili had found a way to avoid him no matter where he looked and everyone else dropped their eyes as if they were too afraid to look at him anymore.

"Except they see you every day and you have to live with them.  I'm not saying you have to talk about everything, but it could help to have someone who doesn't know everything about you there to listen when you need it," Bilbo replied, watching Thorin carefully.

"Perhaps," Thorin agreed. "But what of you? What has happened in the world since I shut it out?"

"Not a whole lot, actually.  People come and go and the books on the shelves get checked out and returned.  I rarely hear from my family and when I do it's to tell me that I'm foolhardy and should come home--barring that I should at least be very very careful," he stopped there before he said too much.  "In other words, the world keeps turning and we all turn with it."

Thorin blinked, finding no comfort in any of those words and he berated himself for looking for anyway. "Ah."

"But something's stopped yours in its orbit, hasn't it?" Bilbo murmured before dropping his gaze, "Sorry, you've already indicated you don't want to talk about that."

"The world always seems to stop in its orbit when you lose someone you love," Thorin said. "And it seems to freeze for longer every time." He dropped the book again with distaste, wanting to tear the pages out and bury the streets of the town in ash from vampires.

Bilbo looked from Thorin to the books and the pieces began fitting themselves into place in his mind, but he knew well enough to keep his mouth shut on that subject.  He'd met most of those that lived in the old mansion with Thorin and he hesitated over his question, "Who?"

Thorin opened his mouth and closed it again, having not used Kili's name since that night. "My nephew," he settled for finally. "The... the younger."

Skimming quickly through his memory to locate the face to go with that description, Bilbo found an image of a laughing face and dark hair, rarely apart from a slightly older youth with blond hair and softer smiles.  The boy would have been well suited among the aelfin and faerie folk for his love of mischief and laughter.  The librarian drew a steadying breath and shook his head, "Gods, Thorin, are you--no that's an idiotic question of course you're not.  When?"

“Over a week," he said, though he could have counted it down to the hour and minute.

"May I ask how?"  He knew he was treading territory that was probably off-limits and he resisted the urge to look again at the books he'd fetched.

Thorin’s eyes landed heavy on the books. "It was an accident," he said and shook his head. "I should go. It was foolish to try and come out today."

Bilbo reached for the books, sliding them under the counter and out of Thorin's sight, "Is there anything I can find for you to take with you?  I mean, if you've ventured out to be here surely you should return with _something_?" The other customers in the library were completely out of his mind.

"And what would you read for grief?" Thorin managed.

"For grief?"  He shook his head, "That's different for everyone.  But I would say that it should be something that you have read before that, well, that you found somewhat comforting.  Surely you have something like that?"

Thorin paused, actually thinking about it. "Perhaps when I was a child I had something like that."

Bilbo blinked at him for a long moment, "Right, if you're not checking out books on the occult you seem to read Russian authors.  Neither of which I suspect will work in this situation."

Thorin smiled thinly. "No, they rather do not."

"I'm afraid I don't know what to suggest for you.  I read books of legends when I want comfort without a guaranteed happy ending, but you're an enigma to me and I don't know that those would suit you," Bilbo murmured.

"An enigma," Thorin repeated and shook his head. "If you say so."

"I don't say things I don't mean," Bilbo replied.  It was more that he couldn't say things he didn't mean than that he didn't, but that was a matter of semantics, "But it's really neither here nor there.  How, how are you all holding up?"

Thorin simply gave him a long look before shaking his head slowly.

"Right, of course, stupid question," he murmured more to himself than to Thorin.

"I am alive," Thorin said finally. "My heart is still beating for no reason I can determine. I should go, thank you though for your time."

"Always," Bilbo answered before he thought about it, startling himself, that surprise distracting him from how uncomfortable the thanks made him.  "I mean, if you ever need anything please let me know."  Alright, that wasn't much better than 'always' had been.

Thorin hesitated from where he had been turning to leave. "Always?"

Mentally cursing his lack of brain to mouth communication at the moment, the librarian nodded, "For as long as I'm able.  You're no burden on my time and you're always welcome to it."

"There's that always again," Thorin murmured. "It's an interesting amount of time. Have a good day then."

"Take care," Bilbo replied quietly, catching himself before he responded with 'good day to you as well.'

Thorin's smile was cold and bitter. "Perhaps I shall try."

-0-

There was no reason for him to be standing there.

Vampires were not sentimental about their past lives, and they often retained no ties to their former family members or loves and yet Kili found himself standing outside the old mansion on a night with no moon.

He couldn't say why he was there, but he wished he could hate how different it looked with new eyes.

Shaking his head he was about to turn and go, hunger driving him when the door opened and Fili stepped out, already lighting a cigarette in the night air but close enough to bolt for the door if he had to, a stake also stuck through his belt to be accessible.

Kili remembered as if in a dream when he had been angry at Fili for picking up smoking to try and cope with his stress, badgering him to finally quit barely a year ago. He vaguely felt a curl of anger about it still, realizing what had driven Fili to pick it back up.

Before he could examine those emotions or turn to bolt back into the darkness Fili lifted his eyes as he exhaled the smoke and they both froze as their eyes met.

The moment stretched long between them before it was Fili, oddly, who moved first with his slower human reflexes. Dropping the cigarette he took a step forward and Kili ran. He bolted into the night, twisting and turning away from the mansion as quickly as he could go, suddenly not hungry though he was sure he would regret it later in the day when the sun shone high in the sky.

Legolas reached the vampires' modern mansion at about the same time as Kili did, though he had the benefit of a successful hunt.  His gaze scoped over the other and he arched an eyebrow, "You're in a state."  Opening the door, he held it for the other, waiting for Kili to enter.

Kili almost kicked the door in rather than step through it being held open for him. "Am I? I hadn't noticed," he tried.

"Of course you haven't."  He frowned as he closed the door again, "You went back, didn't you?"

"What?" Kili turned to look at him. "No. I mean, no of course not."

"You are a terrible liar, did you know that?"  Legolas asked as he crossed the large, open foyer.

For a moment Kili's jaw worked like he really wanted to disagree. "Perhaps," he said finally. The foyer still brought him up short and he tilted his head back.

The blond vampire turned at the bottom of the wide staircase and looked the other over, "What are you staring at?  You've seen the entry before."

"Yes," Kili said, eyes snapping back down to Legolas. "It still surprises me."

“How so?"  He reached up to untie his long hair from where he pulled it back while hunting.  It would probably be more practical to cut it at that point--it might draw fractionally less attention to him as well.

"Well, vampires," he managed. "Sorta still figured you hide in holes and crypts with lots of candelabras, not, this," he said, motioning to the wide spaces with white walls and black highlights with light wood floors. Open stair cases went up to the other floors and the only thing missing from the modernist setting there the large windows.

Legolas snorted at that, "No, that would be your people."

Kili gave him a hard look, aware he should not be offended and yet still hating the jab. "We... They cannot afford to move anywhere else. I suppose that's not a constraint you would have."

"Not especially, no," Legolas rolled his shoulder in a dismissive shrug.  "So with your trip to the past you can't have back did you happen to remember to eat anything tonight?"

Snarling, fangs growing out Kili stomped up the nearest staircase, throwing himself onto the couch in the side room. His lips curling into a mirthless, yet almost self-satisfied smile, Legolas followed him up and leaned against the door to the room, "I'll take that as a 'no', then."

"What's it matter to you anyway?" he demanded.

“Why shouldn't it matter to me?  We share a sire, for whatever that's worth--some put more stock in that than others," Legolas replied, pushing his hair back behind his shoulder and deciding that he was definitely going to speak to Arwen and see if she could cut it for him.

"I'm not feeling the need to put much stock into it myself," Kili drawled.

"Thank goodness," Legolas replied with mock relief.  "I was so worried that you would."

Kili paused, mouth twisting. "And if I did put stock in such nonsense what would that entail anyway?"

"If you want an example of it taken to extremes, watch the twins around Arwen," Legolas replied, strolling further into the room and sprawling in one of the chairs.  "As I said, that's an extreme example.  On average? I would hazard that it entails making certain the other isn't doing anything suicidal--like watching a building where more than a dozen hunter live--and is eating.  I couldn't say really, it hasn't come up much."

Kili bared his fangs again. "You're a comforting, warm one aren't you?"

"I'm sorry, was I supposed to be?"  Legolas paused for a long moment, running a finger over the upholstery of the chair, "It's not unusual to go back and look at the life you had, you know.  But it's never a good idea."

"Really? I was given to believe it was entirely unusual," Kili snapped and paused, wondering if there was a wound there he could press. "Did you go back?"

Legolas weighed whether he should answer that or brush it off and settled for another dismissive shrug, "Once as I recall.  It took me longer to remember who I was than it took you."

"Lucky me," Kili managed. A reprieve from his memories sounded like a wonderful way to start a new life. As did not thinking about the expression in Fili's face or his haggard appearance. "So what happened?"

"Nothing of any real note," he replied.  Though that hadn't been entirely true, his mother had expressed surprise to see him and he'd wanted to snap her neck for greeting him as though he'd just stepped out for groceries when he'd been gone for weeks.  And his father had pitched something at him--it was a blur after that, but there had been a new gravestone in the local cemetery not long after and he had settled quite comfortably into his new life with no nostalgia.

"Were you close?" Kili asked, not sure he really cared about the answer but there was still a gnawing knot of anger about the cigarette.

"Do I look like I'm suffering through my afterlife?" Legolas offered as an answer.

"How nice for you then," Kili snapped.

"You might ask Arwen, rumor has it she went back once," Legolas suggested, picking up a small box from a table nearby and opening it, though he knew it was empty.  "She was quiet, well quieter, for weeks after that.  She's since shown she has a cold vicious streak and has taken to her position as Galadriel's favorite, but she was I suppose subdued is the right answer about a month after she was turned.  No one could figure out the exact cause and she never told anyone. Of course this is all second hand knowledge, I wasn't born yet."

Kili watched him, completely still, not needing to breath but still feeling the urge. "I might," he said warily.

Tracing his fingers over the tiling on the top of the box, Legolas didn't look up, "Look, it's probably pretty clear that I don't really like you, but you're likely to be around for a long time.  Just because I don't like you, and probably won't if I'm being honest, doesn't mean you should suffer.  Ada saw _something_ in you that caused him to change you instead of simply draining you and leaving you in whatever back alley he found you."

Kili's shoulders tensed at that description, still not liking to think about how much his existence hung in the balance of one person's decision. "Suffer?" he asked, curious. "And how are you going about making that better anyway?"

"Me?  I think I just made it clear I don't like you.  But I can point you in the direction of people who _might_ have come closer to what you're going through if you want to deal with that at all," Legolas replied, leaning back further in the chair and resting his right ankle on his left knee.

"So why don't you like me?" Kili asked, arching a brow and considering the pose. "I'm told I can be quite charming. I mean, you're a pompous bastard so there's that but seriously."

"It's an indefinable quality you have," Legolas replied, the lie slipping from his lips easily.  "It reminds me of pond scum and roaches."

Kili blinked once, aware he had started it by calling him a pompous bastard but he snarled, fangs growing in his anger again, closer to hissing than anything. "You really are a right old bastard."

"You used that insult already.  I mean, really, I know you grew up in a decrepit ruin of a mansion, but surely you can be more creative than that," Legolas drawled, looking distinctly unimpressed.

Kili rose to his feet in one long motion, ready to either strike the other or inform him he was just getting jealous that his sire might have a new favorite and then who would care for him except suddenly Thranduil appeared in the doorway. He'd arrived there silently and brought Kili up short. "Can you two not get along?" Thranduil drawled.

Legolas tilted his head in that direction, hiding his surprise well, and rose to his feet gracefully.  He shrugged, "It's not my fault he's idiot enough to go back to watch said decrepit old mansion."  With those words he started toward the door, hoping to pass their sire without further interaction.

Thranduil shot him a quick look. "You're not one to talk, Legolas."

"My family weren't hunters," he reminded with a shrug.

"You still went back," Thranduil said, leaning against the doo rframe. "Be nice, you know what the transition is like."

"No, I know what the transition is like for someone who prefers this afterlife," Legolas shot back. Thranduil arched his brows and Kili just looked like he wanted to punch someone, probably Legolas. "May I go, now?"  Legolas asked, ignoring Kili and meeting Thranduil's eyes.

"Was I ever stopping you?" he asked mildly.

He considered Thranduil's position by the doorway and then shrugged, stepping past and tossing over his shoulder, "One thing I do remember about the transition--going for more than twenty-four hours without a meal was difficult at best and painful at worst."

Kili's fingers dug crescents into his palm as Thranduil turned his regard onto his newest child. "Did you not eat tonight?" Thranduil asked, mild.

"It doesn't matter," Kili snapped.

"Because you went home," Thranduil said. "It would have been better for you to not remember."

"Well I did and it's been a ball of laughs since," Kili said, sinking further down into the couch and Thranduil considered the bright shirt he wore.

"Is that some kind of protest?" he asked, gesturing to the shirt Kili was twisting his fingers up in to and Kili stopped suddenly. "Going against the grain of creature of the night stereotypes?"

Looking down Kili shrugged. "Does it matter much? Besides, in the lore you were blond and now you're not."

Thranduil laughed by the sound didn't come across as amused. "The same hair, the same style, it gets boring after the first few hundred years. Dying one's hair is so easy now."

"Brown is pretty boring," Kili remarked idly, "Though after dealing with Galadriel I could see what you might want not to be compared quite so much there."

"This has nothing to do with Galadriel," Thranduil snapped and Kili raised his brows, not having expected that sore spot to exist.

"If you say so," he murmured, looking down again and Thranduil took a step toward him. Raising his head Kili watched him, not moving again. "Why did you turn me?"

Tilting his head, Thranduil raised his brows again. "What?"

"Why didn't you kill me?" Kili pressed, wishing he would keep his mouth closed and not aggravate either Legolas or Thranduil but he kept thinking about _Fili_ and vampires weren't supposed to care about their former kin.

"You're too interesting," Thranduil said. "Eternity gets boring you know."

"That's a damn shitty reason," Kili managed and Thranduil let out another one of those non-amused laughs.

"Perhaps," Thranduil agreed. "Perhaps you have some purpose to serve."

Kili suddenly moved, one moment sprawled on the couch the next standing in front of Thranduil, bare inches away and Thranduil only blinked once. "I will not serve a purpose for your amusement," Kili snarled and Thranduil smiled.

"Eternity gets boring," he said again, taking an almost mocking step backward. "You might yet, whether you realize it or not."

"I've served other's purposes since I was born," Kili snapped. "I will not be doing it again in this life." He shoved past Thranduil and the elder vampire watched him go quietly.


	2. I Feel like Someone Should have Already Buried Me

Bofur was headed upstairs for the night, but paused and turned as the front door opened.  He tensed and then froze as Fili came inside looking like he'd gone toe-to-toe with a brick wall and the wall had won. "Jesus Christ, Fili," the brunet exclaimed as he returned to the main floor before remembering and stopping at the foot of the stairs.

Fili startled, eyes darting up and widening slightly when he realized who was standing there. "What?" he rasped, trying to turn for the kitchen.

"You look like hell," Bofur replied before he caught himself.  He took another step forward.  "Do, do you need me to fetch Oin?"

"It's fine," Fili tried to say again though he was moving stiffly like everything hurt and his lip was bleeding, as was a nasty looking scrape on his collarbone, not to mention the bruises already forming.

Watching him, the other shook his head, "You should go sit down.  I'll get you an ice pack," he looked at him again, "or three."

Fili opened his mouth to say something--whether agreement or protest--and snapped it shut when Thorin came around the corner, a cup of coffee in hand. For a moment they stared at each other and Thorin set the cup down. "Are you alright?" he asked, moving forward and stopping.

"I--" Fili started and Thorin frowned, recognizing the scent of cigarettes in the air, his eyes narrowing. "It was just a few vampires," Fili finished.

"You went out alone?" Thorin snapped and Fili hesitated before nodding. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Thorin rumbled, the sound building in his chest before bursting out.

Fili hesitated for a long moment, levelly meeting Thorin's eyes.

With a roar, Thorin grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him off the ground to slam him back against the wall. "Don't you dare," he growled, Fili's eyes widening as his breath hissed out in pain. "Don't you dare," he repeated, shaking Fili. "I'm not losing both of you, don't you dare do that to me."

Bofur froze when Thorin appeared, not certain how to respond.  Dis, who came down the stairs when she heard her brother's voice raised had no such problem.  She crossed the foyer swiftly and caught Thorin by the arm, "Brother!  Let him down."  Her gaze darted to her son and she paled very slightly before turning her attention back to her brother.

Tightening his grip on Fili's shoulders for a moment, Thorin dropped him and stepped back, Fili's head hitting the back of the wall as he gained his feet back. "You have to be careful," Thorin rasped and Fili just gave him a long look before fleeing for the kitchen.

Bofur hesitated for the briefest of moments before following Fili.  Dis watched them go before turning to her brother, "What...How did he end up like that?"

"He went out alone," Thorin said, looking down at his hands and not moving, fear and guilt equally in his expression.

Dis looked like she'd been struck and her hand tightened where she still hadn't moved it off of his arm, "H-he what?  No.  He wouldn't be that stupid.  Not after--"

"He was," Thorin said. "I don't... I know what set him off but I don't know why tonight. He smelled of smoke too."

"Is he _trying_ to kill himself?"  she asked in shock.

"When I asked him that," Thorin said and hesitated. "He didn't answer but he all but said yes."

His sister tried to keep herself calm at that, but her expression indicated that she was partially regretting stepping in so quickly, "I'll, I"ll talk to him and see if I can figure out what triggered him tonight."

Thorin nodded, having not quite looked up before he heaved a sigh and finally rolled his shoulders back. "Good luck."

Dis inclined her head before finally letting go of him and stepping back. Looking over at her once, he shook his head slightly before scooping the coffee back up and all but fleeing to his office underneath the stairs.

-0-

Fili slammed into the kitchen, fumbling toward the fridge, hurting now more than he had even before. Bofur entered right behind him, "Sit down, please?  I'll get you the ice pack and see if I can find the first aid kit."

"I don't need," Fili started and stopped, sinking down on one of the kitchen chairs.

Ignoring that comment, Bofur slipped over to the freezer and withdrew an ice pack, wrapping it in a kitchen towel and grabbing the first aid kit from the cupboard where it was kept.  He paused for a moment before crossing to Fili's side and offering the ice pack as he opened the kit.

Fili took the ice pack, holding it up to his cheek, considering the other. "What are you doing?"

"Seeing to that scrape?" Bofur offered, glancing at Fili's collarbone.

"It's not that bad," he protested, adjusting the icepack before considering and holding it against the small of his back instead, hissing out a breath.

"Do you want me to get you another one of those?"  Bofur asked, ignoring the comment about the scrape as he found an antiseptic pad to clean the scrape.  "This'll sting a bit."

Fili gave him a long look, tilting his head back so his chin or beard wouldn't get in the way. Bofur kept his attention focused entirely on the scrape as he cleaned it carefully, "If I ask why you went out alone would you tell me?"

Swallowing, Fili turned his head to the side, the set of his mouth stubborn. Drawing the swab away and finding some gauze to cover the wound, Bofur breathed a soft sigh, but didn't ask again.

For a long moment Fili continued looking away before finally dragging his eyes back down, watching Bofur. "It was Kili."

Bofur turned his attention to another scrape Fili had sustained as he spoke again, not asking--not doubting for a moment, "You're sure it was him."

"Yes of course I am," Fili said, ducking his chin down and only holding it together. "It was him. And he was just standing there, watching the house..."

"So you went out on your own to find something that would hurt."  He cleaned the scrape--it wasn't as bad as the first one, "Something that would hurt more than what's going on inside."

"Yes," Fili murmured and then tensed. "You--that's rather astute of you to say."

Bofur paused, drawing back and closing the first aid kit, "I told you that I knew a face on the other end of the stake before."

"But it wasn't Kili," Fili said, and his face crumpled. With a hitch of breath, he bent over his own knees, ignoring the pain.

The other man shook his head very slightly, "No, no it wasn't Kili.  I wouldn't have survived it if it had been."  He hesitated before placing a hand on Fili's shoulder, ready to pull back.

"I can't do this," Fili said, hands coming up to cradle the back of his own head, still pressing his face against his knees. "I can't do this. I can't keep going."

"I'm not going to lie and say that if you make it to tomorrow it'll be easier.  But you can do this," Bofur responded, leaning against the kitchen table.  "It won't get easier for a very long time, if ever, and it's going to hurt like hell.  But you can make it."

"I can't," Fili protested again, finally looking up, tears in his eyes. "I can't get to tomorrow."

"Is there nothing that keeps you here?" Bofur asked quietly, though there was understanding in his eyes.

"I love my mother, and my uncle," Fili tried and shook his head. "But what if that isn't enough, do I just keep going fueled by my own hatred?"

"Hatred?" the brunet shook his head slightly, "If that's what it takes."

"Then I'll burn myself out and die," Fili said. "Because if all I have is hatred of the vampires then I'll go out every night and have nothing to come home to and--and I hate you too."

Bofur fell silent at that for a long moment, but he finally nodded, "It just has to get you through until you find another reason."  He paused again, "You hate me?  Not that I can blame you for that."

"I hate you for choosing Gloin over Kili," Fili said, voice rough and he ducked his head again. "And I hate myself for hating you because if you hadn't made that choice Gloin would be dead and Gimli would be hurting so much but I can't--I can't breathe without Kili. D-do you know he looked so angry that I stepped out for a smoke but he's a vampire now so he shouldn't _care_ and I shouldn't care and--"

"And shouldn't has nothing to do with what you're feeling," Bofur cut him off, speaking quietly.  "I wish I could have brought him home to you, hate me for not doing that, not for bringing Gloin home.  That internal hate'll burn you out faster than anything else."

"I just want him back," Fili managed and bowed over again, finally giving into the sobs that tore out of his chest.

Bofur paused for a long moment and put both hands on Fili's shoulder, not certain about more contact than that, murmuring, "I know.  I know.  I'm so sorry for that loss."

"I feel like someone should have already buried me," he said, completely giving up and falling forward against the other.

His arms automatically coming to wrap around the other man and comb through Fili's hair, Bofur nodded, "I know.  It won't stop hurting, not completely.  But time will gradually ease it."

"How do I get there?" Fili asked, pressing his nose into Bofur's shoulder.

"I wish I could tell you that," the older man replied softly.  "You take each moment as it comes, draw each breath and remind yourself that he wouldn't want you to join him no matter how much you might want to sometimes."

"What if I can't? What if I fail?" Fili asked, unable to stop crying not that he finally started. He’d not allowed himself to grieve and wished now he’d never allowed himself to start.

Still stroking a hand over Fili's hair, Bofur paused before replying, "If you feel like you're going to fall, tell someone.  You don't have to do this alone, Fili."

Stifling another sob, Fili finally looked up. "I'd like not to hate you. It just makes me so tired to hate so much."

The brunet wiped away the tears from Fili's cheeks before he thought the motion through, "I'd like for you not to hate me.  But if you need an external focus, I'd rather be that than have you turn it inward."

"And things like that make it hard to hate you," Fili swallowed and dropped his head. "I... I hadn't cried. Or, anything really."

"You hadn't--" Bofur stopped before he finished that sentence, "Sometimes you have to start feeling to make it through. I know that doesn't, it doesn't always make sense, and it hurts more."

"I think I'm at the limit of how much I can hurt."

Bofur managed not to flinch at that as he spoke again, "This pain will push that limit further.  But you've got a chance because once you've hit this point it can only start to uncoil and ease.  Not quickly.  It'll hurt like this for a long time, and even after it's eased there will be days, hours, weeks even, where it hurts just as much."

Letting out a pained breath, Fili didn't move back from where he was still leaning against the other. "Then I should probably go sleep it off."

"Are you going to make it up the stairs?" Bofur asked quietly, looking toward the doorway and stilling when he saw Dis there.  Her face was unreadable and she shook her head at him not wanting to let her son know she was there.

"It'll hurt," he said, pushing back and scanning the room automatically, freezing when he spotted his mother.

Dis took a half step into the room, looking between them but not remarking on it.  She’d heard most of the conversation between them and drew a steadying breath, "Fili."  She glanced at Bofur, "Thank you for your help."

He heard the dismissal in her tone, but hesitated for a moment, not certain he wanted to leave Fili quite yet.

"Thank you," Fili rasped, patting Bofur awkwardly on the shoulder but his eyes were already looking toward his mother.

Bofur nodded slightly and finally moved, leaving through the door that Dis wasn't standing next to.  Dis watched him go before moving over to her son, "Oh, Fili..."

Slowly he tilted his head up to look at her. "You were there for a while weren't you?"

She nodded very slightly, "Yes.  I came to talk to you once your uncle went upstairs."

"I assume you talked then," Fili said softly, sure that he’d gotten new bruises from his uncle on top of the ones from the young and stupid vampires.

"He says you've taken up smoking again, or that you smelled of smoke at least," his mother murmured, rather than address the other part of what Thorin had told her and what she'd heard Fili tell Bofur.

"A cigarette swiped from Nori does not equate picking it back up but--yes. Funny how you start with the small things and try to work yourself up."

"I'm still trying to deal with the fact you went out alone without having the urge to strangle you myself," she responded, leaning heavily against the table.  "I want to scream at you, to, to I don't even know.  I can't think straight when I think that I could have lost you, too, tonight."

"Then I'm sure Thorin told you why he threw me into a wall," Fili said quietly.

"Yes, he did.  And I stood in that doorway long enough to find out why you did that in the first place," she replied, something catching in her voice.  "Fili, I can't lose you too.  I'm not strong enough for that."

"I," he paused. "I'll try to be more careful," he said, cautiously.

"That's, that's all I can ask."  She looked at her eldest son, her expression open and nearly broken, "Please, please don't go out alone again."

He shifted forward enough to rest his hands on her knees from where she leaned against the table, the motion awkward but he didn't know what else to do. "I won't. I won't, alright?"

Dis paused for a moment and then caught her son's hands in hers, gently running her thumbs over his knuckles, "Thank you.  You," she drew a deep breath, "You saw him tonight."

"Yes," he said, very faintly. "He... he was just across the street. I don't know for how long."

"Just watching the house?"

Fili nodded. "When I walked out, yes, that's just what he--it--was doing."

"Did anything pass between the two of you?" she asked, watching his face

"He saw me," Fili said, swallowing. "He looked angry, and then he ran. That's all. That was enough."

Dis hesitated before reaching up and brushing gentle fingers over her son's temple, "It, it looked like him, but it wasn't him, Fili."

"I know, except," he paused. "He looked exactly like he did the first time he caught me smoking, before you or Thorin had picked up on it. And he's still walking. I'd hoped--I'd  hoped before now that Bofur had been wrong."

"They have memories sometimes, but, but it's not them."

"I just miss him so much," Fili said before drawing his hands back and pulling himself to his feet, using the back of the chair to steady himself and hissing at the pain.

"I know," his mother replied quietly, still leaning against the table.  "Are you going to be able to make it upstairs on your own?"

"I'll find a way," he said and leaned over to kiss her forehead.

She closed her eyes briefly and brushed her fingers over his cheek, "Be careful."

"I will," he tried to assure but it fell flat to his own ears.

"Try to sleep tonight, Fili.  I'll explain things to your uncle."

"If you're sure," he managed before shaking his head. "Thank you," he said instead. "And good night."

"Good night," she murmured, trying to decide if she should approach her brother that night or the next day and finally settling on the next day after they had all attempted some rest.

-0-

Galadriel swept inside the manor, hair twisted up for the night and wearing almost casual clothing. Looking around the foyer, she turned on her heel. "I can't quite tell if that was a success or not," she said, tilting her head.

Arwen was reaching up to unpin her own hair and take the clips out of it as she stepped in behind her, "I would call it a wash.  There was nothing disastrous, but it also wasn't exactly the most successful night either."

Galadriel rolled her shoulders. "I dislike a messy hunt. And I did not expect Hunters to be present."

"They're out in greater and greater force each night," Arwen replied, grimacing.  She pocketed her pins and clips, letting her hair hang loose, "And they seem to be around our usual haunts more too."

"I wonder if they've become more aware or are just angry," she said and rolled her neck and shoulders.

"Perhaps both," the younger vampire offered. "Sometimes anger sharpens attention.  Sometimes it dulls it, but not always."

"In this case I think not," Galadriel said and touched Arwen's cheek where there was a small cut, running her fingers over it before dropping her hand. "We'll all have to be more aware. I know there were out last week but that seemed to be to party, not be on the hunt."

"Something's woken them out of their grief, or into a more violent form of it perhaps?" she proposed, gently brushing a hand over the cut and reaching up to detangle a lock of Galadriel's hair that had come down in their escape from the hunters.

Galadriel sighed. "Something. Probably the newest addition to our line."

"He still hasn't taken well to this life," Arwen remarked, twisting her hair into a braid as they moved up the stairs.

"Did you truly expect him to?" Galadriel asked, looking like she was floating up the stairs rather than walking.

"I, I don't know." She paused, but moved to catch up with Galadriel as she sorted out her thoughts, "I suppose I've grown accustomed to the twins and Legolas.  I mean, they had difficulty, yes, but none of them really wanted to go back to the life they had before."

"He was a hunter," Galadriel said. "You did not adjust well either. It's worse for him."

"I thought, foolishly, that I was an exception.  But I suppose that as a former hunter it would be harder."

Galadriel paused on the stairs and turned, eyeing the woman in front of her. "Hard is a relative statement. It's hard for everyone. I have not forgotten what it was like, no matter the centuries between me and that time. He has almost that much history on his shoulders despite his age because of his family but that does not mean that his issues belittle the ones you went through."

Arwen blinked at her for a moment before nodding, "Of course, Grandmother.  I never, I never meant to imply it did.  I just, I haven't spoken much with Kili and I suppose I'm trying to understand him."

Galadriel reached out, touching Arwen's hair lightly. "Don't ask Legolas what his opinions are. His view is a bit slanted."

"He's jealous," she responded without having to think about it.  "He hasn't said so in as many words, but you should have heard him snarling while I was cutting his hair last night."

"So he finally asked you to?" Galadriel asked with a smile. "Of course he's jealous. Everyone is the favorite of someone but if Kili takes his place he'll be out."

"He did.  He would do it himself, but there's the issue with mirrors," Arwen replied, her lips curling upward.  "I don't think Legolas is even willing to admit that to himself fully, though.  So he'll continue to snarl and ignore and it isn't making it easier on Kili."

"Legolas is not supposed to make things easier on anyone," Galadriel said. "But we can do our parts. He'll either find a way to survive in this life or he will die a second time. That is not for us to decide."

"But surely we shouldn't make it more difficult on him," Arwen protested.

"No," Galadriel frowned. "I certainly did not mean that. But Legolas is not particularly on the same scale as everyone else in this manner. They will work it out in time."

"And if they don't?"

"Then we can do nothing for them," Galadriel said, shaking her head slightly.

Arwen nodded almost imperceptibly, "What are we going to do with the way the hunters are on the move now?"

"Be careful," she replied softly. "As we ever are. Though the last several years have made us arrogant. Thorin is strong willed but he does not have the arm or resources of his ancestors. But now he has grief on his side. So we should be careful and move slowly. It'll be fine," she said, touching the cut again.

"The last time they came after us with any force..." Arwen trailed off, not finishing her thought.  "I mean, there are always losses, but we--"

"They are weaker," Galadriel said, entering a side room and pulling Arwen gently to sit next to her on the couch. "Come though. We will be fine."

Arwen paused briefly before sitting down and curling her legs up next to her to lean very lightly against Galadriel's side, "You're sure?"

"I have lived long enough to be sure of many things," Galadriel said with a vague smile.

A slight smile tugged at Arwen's lips, "When I reach your age, do you think I'll be able to say the same?"

"Of course," Galadriel said. "Tell me, aside from this, how has the world treated you of late?"

"Our world or the world in general?"

"Either of them," Galadriel said, leaning back. "Both of them."

"I belong in our world.  I fit here, better than I had expected to at the beginning, and I like it.  I like the shadows.  I like the lights and noises that start when the sun goes down.  It's treated me well.  The world in general?  Well, I don't see as much of it as I might like perhaps, but what I see has treated me just as well, so long as I avoid the hunters."

"I am glad you found a place here," Galadriel said, smoothing a graceful hand over her hair.

Tilting her head into the touch, Arwen hummed, "I am glad there was a place for me here."

"There always will be," Galadriel said softly.

"What, what was it like for you?  When you first came into this life?"

"That was a long time ago," Galadriel pointed out. "But I was ambitious, and I thought that it gave me power. I did not like Feanor much, though he was the leader of our line then. But we both wanted more power and we took it with both hands and snarled at each other over it. I do miss his sons though, and I miss those I called brother and father in those days. But those are days long gone, and I had what I thought I wanted."

Arwen curled just a bit closer, "And do you still?  Have what you think you want I mean."

"I changed my mind about what I wanted in the end," Galadriel said, looking at the far wall. "And I've quite think I've got it now."

"Does this happen often?  A line being more like a family than just a lineage?" Arwen asked quietly, watching Galadriel from the corner of her eye.

"Sometimes," she said, shaking her head. "Not often. It requires certain sorts. Feanor's children were intensely loyal to him but they never turned others so the line died. For others? Well, there's a reason Thranduil finally threw his lot in with us and Celeborn instead of where he had been."

"You love Gradsire Celeborn a great deal, don't you?"

Galadriel turned her gaze over. "Why else do you think I changed my mind in the end?"

"I can't think of another reason.  I just, most other vampires I've met have taken many lovers, or something, and yet you and Celeborn, and Ada and Naneth never did.  Ada still hasn't and it's been many years since--" she broke off and glanced away.

"It's not common," Galadriel agreed, tone mild. "But it does happen. Sometimes, there really is only that one you can live forever with. But they are rare and wanting that is rare."

"What if you want that without knowing if you'll ever find it?" she asked after another moment.

"Then you always keep one eye open," Galadriel said, glancing over.

Arwen's lips quirked upward very slightly at that, "Then I suppose I'll have to do that."

Still idly stroking Arwen's hair, Galadriel nodded. "Things come in time, dear."

Arwen tilted her head to rest it against Galadriel's shoulder, "And we've rather a lot of time on our hands."

Galadriel laughed, leaning her head back against the dark fabric of the couch. "Yes. That we have quite a bit of."

There was a light tap on the doorframe of the room, Celeborn smiling faintly as he looked at them, his coat draped over his arm.  There was something drawn about his eyes, his pale hair in minor disarray, and his clothes were slightly more rumpled than they usually were after the hunt--he'd had his own run-in with a few hunters.

Galadriel sat up straighter, looking him over quickly before reclining again. "Beloved," she greeted.

Some of the tension seeped out of his form as his eyes took in her state, "My love."  He glanced toward Arwen, his smile dropping slightly when he saw the cut on her cheek.  Crossing the room smoothly to take a seat in the chair positioned nearest where Galadriel sat on the couch he glanced between them again, "You have encountered the hunters as well this night."

"They seem to be out in force," Galadriel agreed. "Whatever watchful truce we had just burned. I believe it was... Dori. The one who likes ranged weapons that caused us the most trouble tonight."

He rested his forearm on the arm of the chair, turning his palm up and extending it to her as he nodded.  "I believe it was his younger brother that I myself encountered. I admit I had expected this a couple of nights sooner than it has come."

She took his hand, touch light on the back of it as she considered the knife mark. "It has been coming," she agreed. "So we shall just have to keep a more careful eye out."

"Too many here have grown complacent in what tentative truce we had," Celeborn murmured, shaking his head.

"They'll have to wake up," Galadriel said. "Quickly, most like."

The fingers of his free hand tapped out an irregular beat on the other arm of his chair and he sighed, "Or we'll lose a great deal of them again."

"We may," she agreed. "We'll be sure to let everyone know the issues at hand."

"And for now we avoid any further deaths on their part.  It won't do to anger them further," his tone was calm, but there was a certain agitation that underlay the words.

Shifting around on the couch to cup his hand with both of her's, Galadriel nodded. "Then we won't try to anger them more. The hunter deserved the broken wrist he got and we must protect ourselves but no killing if we can."

He curled his fingers around hers gently, his gaze moving toward Arwen as the younger vampire shifted to sit more upright than she had been, still listening quietly to them.  Celeborn turned his gaze back to his wife, "How is Thranduil's newest adjusting?  I have yet to bring myself to meet him."

"Badly," Galadriel replied. "And probably the cause of all this sudden virulence."

"You think he went back?" One of his eyebrows arched.

Arwen finally spoke, "I know he did.  Legolas mentioned it last night."

Galadriel nodded. "He did. He didn't do much, but they know he's still walking as one of us. I believe that is what broke grief open into rage."

"A death can be mourned, but to have him turned means that one day someone will have to face him," Celeborn nodded, his fingers stilling.  "If I were them I would be doing less hunting and more tracking.  We'll need to be careful when returning from the hunt--at least as much as when we're actually on it."

Galadriel nodded. "We should gather the others and see if we might lay ground rules to protect them in the coming days."

"No solo hunts either, not for some time," Celeborn spoke as though he was considering what else needed to be added to that list of rules.

Arwen glanced between the other two, "Not everyone will be in for at least another hour."

"Then come," Galadriel said, rising in one long motion and still holding Celeborn's' hand. "We should consider what we might say."

He rose smoothly with her, pausing just long enough to tuck the lock of hair that Arwen had untangled earlier behind her ear, "Arwen?"

"I'll send word around that you wish to speak with everyone after the last have arrived tonight," she promised.

"Thank you," Galadriel said with a warm smile for her granddaughter.

Arwen returned the smile and received a faint one from her grandsire as well as Celeborn squeezed Galadriel's hand lightly and stepped toward the door.

Following closely behind him, Galadriel did not drop his hand as they walked. "If this is not handled carefully--or rather more carefully than it has been to this point--we could see another slaughter, of both sides," Celeborn murmured, speaking more directly now that they were away from Arwen.

"Yes," she agreed and sighed, shaking her head before reaching up with one hand to start and pull her hair down. "There will be death, as there always is but... perhaps this time we can stop it from getting so far out of control. There is no Feanor after all, but there is no Durin willing to talk peace on the other side either."

He paused, reaching up with his free hand to assist her in releasing her long golden hair, "And if we can't?  What then?  We've lived many a long year, my beloved. And I can only hope we will live many a one yet, but we are no longer part of someone else's line.  This is our line that we have surrounded ourselves with and if the slaughter happens it is those that we have brought to us that will die."

"Then we do not let them die," she said, steel behind her voice and eyes. "We protect them no matter what we have to do. There are not that many hunters left."

Placing her hairpins in his pocket, Celeborn nodded once and recognized the look in her eyes, "Then we will do what we must."

"With whoever we must," she added. "I will not see the same wars happen again here."

"Will Thranduil's newest be able to follow our orders?"

"Probably not," she admitted and turned, long fingers sliding across his cheek. "And he will either get himself killed doing it or we will find a way to keep him in line."

"If any of them end up hurt or killed because of him I'll stake him myself--distant line ties to his sire notwithstanding," Celeborn said simply, leaning slightly into her touch, his own fingers combing through her hair.

She laughed softly at that. "I could hardly disagree with that, love."

His smile was gentle for her, but there was something hard and dangerous in his eyes, "We'll not lose them to this."

"Then we won't," she said, a simple declaration she clearly believed.

-0-

For a while Gimli sat at the bottom of the stairs, pulling at his own hair before he started pacing the foyer and went back to sitting on the stairs. Nori and Bombur had gone to bring Gloin back, though his arm would still be in a cast and he would probably be on bedrest for a while yet.

After a while, Ori left him with a cup of tea before retreating back to the kitchen.

The door finally opened, Bombur holding it as Nori helped Gloin inside.  Gloin wasn't quite steady on his feet, and was leaning heavily on Nori's arm, his eyes darting to where his son was.

Almost spilling the entire cup of tea, Gimli bolted to his feet. "Dad."

Gloin offered a weak smile that was barely there, "Gimli."

"Are you--what do you need?" Gimli asked.

"Help upstairs for a start.  Some water once I'm there.  To see you are safe."

"I can get you the help and water. And," he paused, "I'm here. Safe."

Gloin offered him another faint smile, shifting his weight from Nori to Gimli, "Thank God. And you've been careful?"

"More so than Fili," Gimli assured and then wondered how much Gloin had heard. "Yes, father, I've been very careful."

"What did Fili do?" Gloin asked, his tone wary as he let his son help him up the stairs.

"Walked out alone, came back, got slammed against the wall and yelled at by Thorin..." Gimli sighed. "He got himself pretty beat up."

"But he's alright?  Or...alive at the least?"

"He's alive," Gimli assured, having helped his father up the stairs. "Come on, almost there. Then you can rest for a while."

Gloin nodded very slightly, "You're a good lad.  You've been staying out of trouble?  Helping out around the house?"

Gimli didn't comment on the fact he'd already assured his father he was being careful--which meant stayed out of trouble. Except, of course, for that surprised blond vampire. "Yes father. I've been helping with the shopping and such. The others have been too."

They made it into the apartment and Gloin lowered himself onto the bed, "Good lad.  How have the others been faring?"

"As well as they can be," Gilmi said. "I mean, some better than others. Fili and Thorin aren't doing so well, and Dis is quietly about to fall apart. But... Ori's holding on, Bofur's not, and Bifur is trying to be as helpful as he can. Oin's doing well though."

"And how are you faring?" Gloin looked at his son, assessing him.

"I'm good," Gimli said. "I'll get you your water," he said, moving quickly rather than dwell on the question.

Gloin watched his son go, sighing and never quite sure what to do to connect to his son.

Nori watched him leave before looking back at Gloin. "That went just about as well as anything."

Gloin pinched the bridge of his nose before looking at his friend, "Has he really been staying out of trouble?"

"Sorta, mostly," Nori said. "He freaked the hell out a few nights ago when we... um. We went out. And... he said he saw Galadriel hunting but we all got out. And it was fine."

Gloin tensed, his gaze moving toward where Gimli had gone, "You took him out?  And _Galadriel_ was hunting where you were?"

"Everyone needed to blow off steam," Nori protested. "But yeah, apparently. He was the only one who saw her though. Dori said he might have run into her last night."

"And Dori's alright?"

Nori nodded. "Only ones who aren't are you and... and well--"

Gloin looked down, "Kili, I heard he was taken."

"Yeah," Nori nodded, fingers itching to do something. "It was just confirmed a few days ago."

"Confirmed.  He was turned, too?" Gloin's eyes widened.

"Yes," Nori nodded and shook his head. "I'm sorry I thought--we thought he had been turned but we didn't find out for sure..."

"They've been very careful about what they've been telling me.  Worry about my blood pressure or heart rate or some such," he rolled his good shoulder.

"Which... would have been logical," Nori admitted. "It's just been a trying time for everyone, you know. Especially the boys. Gimli and Ori and the brother have been close you know? I mean, no one could really walk into Fili and Kili's world but they got closest."

"What's Thorin's plan now?"

"Not rightly sure he has one, or if he has, he hasn't let anyone else in it," Nori said. "Except things have been getting more active. Ran into some silver haired vamp that wasn't so happy to see me but that's rage not a plan," Nori shook his head, fluffing a pillow idly.

"Are you and your brother both intact?"

Nori nodded. "Scrapes, bruises, we're not bad off. Dori's wrist might be broken but god knows that won't stop him at all."

"It probably ought to slow him down, though," Gloin offered, raising an eyebrow.

"It's Dori," Nori said and shook his head. "He's a damn tank no matter what happens." He may not always get along with his brother but he certainly respected him.

Gloin smiled wryly at that, "Still trying to keep Ori out of all of this, the both of you?"

"Last time I checked I think we're still succeeding," Nori said and Gimli re-entered with the water.

Gloin looked in his son's direction, "Thank you, lad."

"Of course, father," he said with a smile. "Is there anything else I could get you?

"No, I think this will do for now," Gloin offered him a smile in reply.

"I could read to you later, if you liked," Gimli offered, braced to retreat.

His father blinked once and then nodded very slightly, "I'd like that."

"I--I'll be back later then," Gimli said and was out the door, Nori watching him as he still fluffed the pillow.

"What's going on in your head, Nori?" Gloin asked, his gaze focused on his son's retreat.

"Just wondering if I was that incomprehensible as a youngling or if that's something new that Ori and Gimli have worked out."

"I can almost promise we were as incomprehensible to our parents, or parental figures," Gloin replied with a sigh.  "It's something I've come to terms with at this point."

"Well, so long as you're at terms with it," Nori said with a smirk. "It's nice to have you home."

"And I am very happy to be home tonight.  Sleeping in hospital beds is next to impossible."

Nori laughed. "Yeah, that's just a good thing to avoid you know? Sleep well tonight then. I'll be around, have the afternoon off and everything. Call if you need something."

"Thanks, I'll do that."  Gloin touched his brow, "Take care, Nori."

“You too, enjoy being home," Nori said from the door and then was gone.

-0-

Dori grimaced, muttering under his breath as he made dinner one-handed, his other in a sling due to the broken wrist he'd sustained a few nights prior.  He'd been foolish to get close enough for that to be a possibility and it would throw off his abilities for a few weeks which was the last thing they needed at the moment.

A few moments later, Ori stepped in and paused when he saw his older brother cooking. Dori wasn't a good cook at the best of times. "Do," he started and tried again. "Do you need help?"

Dori  offered his younger brother a long look but rolled a shoulder and nodded slightly, "It probably wouldn't go amiss."

"Just a little help," Ori tried to assure and considered what couldn't actually be burned.

"What have you been up to all day?"  Dori asked as he located things to make a salad for himself not expecting either of his brothers to eat it.

"Not much," he said. "You know, work and such. Trying to make sure everything is still good at the main house. Can I say again how glad I am we don't actually live there?"

"You've said it before, but I think you could probably get away with that admission again," his brother allowed.  "Have you seen Nori about at all today?"

"A bit. He's been pretty keen to help Gloin out the last few days," Ori shrugged, glancing at the green food in question and deciding that pasta sauce was the way to go.

Dori worked to swiftly chop up the lettuce, "Gloin seems pretty glad to be home.  How is his son handling it?"

"So well as Gimli ever handles anything," Ori replied, opening cupboards until he found what he wanted. "Which is by not really talking about it."

"That seems to be a trait of this bloodline," Dori responded.

"It does seem common," Ori agreed. "Even Bofur has it, despite how much he talks. Like, he never talks about what matters, and Bombur almost never opens his mouth and Bifur can't really talk to most people so maybe it's a general hunter thing. We kill vampires, ergo, we cannot talk about our feelings."

That earned a wry chuckle, "Perhaps that's it exactly. And how are things at the main house in general?"

"Tense," Ori said and paused. "Angry. Lots of sadness still though no one talks about it. You know, if we were smart, or at least had more money, I think we'd all need to walk ourselves into therapy. Maybe one of us should get a degree..."

Dori snorted at that, "No one would ever talk to a therapist, we all know that."

"But if it was one of us, a master's in psych," Ori said. "You know, there could be hope. They, we, everyone needs it and badly."

"I'm certain we could send you to get that degree if you would like it," Dori offered.

"Really? Because I thought you were pretty set on the art school thing--or is this more I just want you to go away to school thing?"

"I think you would do very well in art school, but if something else is more your preference, I'm certain we could arrange it," his brother replied without directly answering the actual question.

"You mean in my preference so long as it's away?" Ori asked. "You know, they probably still have vampires at art school. Classes are held late at night and stuff."

"We're not having this discussion again, Ori," Dori replied, glancing at him.

"We're not?" Ori asked, slamming one of the cupboards and then actually wincing. "You know it's not just--it's not just you who gets to decide these things. The world is dangerous and it will always be dangerous and you... you want me to pretend I never see it and act like everything's fine when I know it's not!" He'd turned to face Dori as he spoke, arms crossed over his chest.

Dori drew a sharp breath at that before setting the salad aside and turning to face Ori, "No.  I want you safe, and I want you uninvolved.  I want better for you than this life."

"Which, incidentally, I'm still a part of," Ori pointed out. "I mean, how does that work in your head anyway?"

"At least somewhere else there isn't a chance of you encountering Galadriel or her line."

"So long as they're not at the same club," Ori pointed out. "Or I don't need milk in the middle of the night--I am not that stupid but the point is if I step outside there's going to _be_ that danger and you'd rather make sure I'm weaponless than accept that fact!"

Nori stopped in the doorway, looking between his brothers and almost walking right back out to get food somewhere else. From the looks of it, they weren't going to have a very good dinner anyway.

"Oh for the love of-- That is not what is going on here!" Dori snapped.  He caught Nori's eye, silently letting him know that he saw him enter and that if he left again there'd be hell to pay.

Having been seen, Nori slunk into the kitchen, sitting down at the table off to the side and wondering if he should try to save dinner or just let it all burn in the coming fight.

"Isn't that?" Ori demanded. "Sometimes I wonder when I have to walk between here and the main house if damn, this might be the night the vampires have figured out where we live. Or the fact that Galadriel’s line _isn't_ the only danger out there so who knows what might happen when I go outside! And instead of... of knowing how to protect myself I--I'm treated like a child who can't take care of myself."

Though the brothers were all placed at different sides of the kitchen, Nori sighed at how claustrophobic it was starting to feel, the same fight going round and round in the air. Though something seemed to have set Ori off. Usually by now he'd murmured something and dropped his gaze and Nori didn't know how to react to him standing his ground and almost yelling.

Dori crossed his arms over his chest, as best he could with the splint on his broken wrist, his eyes narrowing at his youngest brother and the dinner forgotten, "What has gotten into you tonight?"

"It's not just been tonight," Ori protested. "I'm just sick of it! I'd rather be able to take care of myself than live constantly in the fear that I don't know how. I know what goes bump in the night, brother, but not what to do with it."

"You stay the hell out of its way is what you do with it," Dori muttered.  "Ori, you don't need the training yet."

"And when do I need it then?" he demanded, taking a step forward and tossing his arms out. "Will you finally cave in when Gimli gets killed as well?"

Dori's jaw tensed, his expression closing off, "That was uncalled for."

Ori's hands clenched at his sides and he took a few breaths before he spoke again. "Maybe. There's a lot that's uncalled for. But I want... I want to understand why you--why you insist that I'm helpless."

"We just want--" Nori started.

"To protect me, I know. But this _isn't doing that_."

"What would you have us do?" Dori responded, watching the youngest of the three brothers, his expression still shuttered but he was at least asking.

Ori came to an abrupt stop, not quite having an answer prepared. "I'd like to know what I'm facing. I'd like to stop having to sneak books out of your library so I at least have some idea what I'm doing. I'd like to know at least how to protect myself because there isn't always going to be someone else there to do it for me. Even when there is," he faltered again. "It might not be enough if I can't do anything."

Dori considered that answer rather than giving his usual immediate answer in the negative.  He glanced at Nori before speaking again, "You can access the library."  He held up his uninjured hand, "For anything that isn't listed under witchcraft--I've got it classified as occult, though I'm assuming you knew that.  We'll talk about other steps, agreed?"

Ori opened his mouth, about to protest that he might need access to those books too and talking didn't seem to be working but he snapped it shut. Nodding, he accepted the compromise for what it was--a first step. "Alright," he managed.

The eldest of the brothers relaxed very slightly at that, "We'll start there.  You've got my word that we'll talk about it more."

"Alright," Ori repeated, letting out another breath and finally realizing he'd had the stove on the entire fight.

Dori looked toward the stove, blinking once, "Is that going to be salvageable?"

"I vote no," Nori said. "Actually, while I'm here, can I vote for Chinese take out?" Ori blushed and looked down.

"You always vote for Chinese take-out, Nori," Dori replied, but his tone wasn't a veto for once.

"Yes, and I'm always denied so I just have to keep pushing," Nori said with a grin.

Dori rolled his eyes and looked toward Ori, "What’s your vote in this matter?"

"I like Chinese," Ori managed.

"Fine.  We'll do Chinese take-out this once," Dori relented. A tiny smile flittered around Ori's mouth and Nori just grinned.


	3. We have Lives

Legolas crouched on a fire escape one level up, his gaze focused on the pack of hunters coming down the alley.  He dropped silently several paces behind them, slinking through the shadows after them as he recognized one as Gimli.  He'd left for his hunt with Elladan and Elrohir but had separated when the twins had located two promising preys.  His own hunt could wait a bit longer as he followed at a distance until the hunters turned down another alley and he caught Gimli--who was in the back.  He clapped a strong hand over the other's mouth and pulled him through a door that stood ajar nearby.

In shock, Gimli tried to kick out or throw him or otherwise do something that could distance himself from whoever was behind him, flailing his stocky arms. Legolas leaned down to murmur in his ear, "Hush, clever Gimli.  I only wish to talk and I would rather not draw the rest of your hunting party here."

Gimli stopped struggling but his entire body tensed, pushing back after a moment to try and get Legolas to drop his hand off his mouth. Legolas waited an extra couple of seconds, judging correctly that the hunters would keep going, before he released Gimli and stepped back.

Instantly Gimli turned around as quickly as he could. "What the hell? You wanted to talk to me? So you abduct me into an alleyway?"

"Well I would have shown up on your doorstep at noon, but I have a distinct dislike for the idea of turning into a pile of ash," the vampire drawled.

"I'm sure you'd do a rose garden a lot of good that way," Gimli snapped back. "There's such a thing as phones you know!"

"Which implies that I have your number, or that calling anyone in a house of hunters is a good idea."

"That's what cell phones are for if you're so desperate to talk," Gimli snapped and paused. "Though, alright, you don't have that number. Look, what did you want to talk about?"

"I, well I wanted to know how you were doing."  He replied, reaching up to tuck a lock of his hair back, only to remember that he'd had Arwen hack off most of its length.

Gimli blinked once and the blinked again. "Say what?"

"Well, you and your family I suppose," he allowed after another moment.

"No, that's even more shocking," Gimli said, hooking his hands in his belt. "You don't care so why are you asking?"

"I care about the answer regarding you," Legolas responded, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms.

Frowning, Gimli shifted back. "But... okay. No, actually, that's not okay? Why the hell would you go and do something like care about that answer?"

The blond vampire tilted his head to one side, "Because you confuse me."

"I feel more and more like this is the set up to a really bad cult horror film," Gimli said and shook his head. "How do I confuse you? Because I'm pretty sure I've never confused a soul in my life, I leave that to other people."

"I told you that last time." Legolas responded, "Your desire to create things is not something I was expecting."

"And that is still a really unsatisfying answer," Gimili returned.

"What sort of answer would you consider satisfying then?"

Gimli gave the vampire a dark look. "Because that's the sort of thing I would know? The fuck should I know what a satisfying reason is considering that I don't consider myself very fascinating at all."

Legolas frowned at that, "Well, then I can't think of a single answer that you would accept.  If you don't consider yourself fascinating then I would imagine that anything I say will be taken as a lie."

"You could try to convince me instead of pout," Gimli said, and took a step back, wondering if he could just leave. The other had never really given a hint that he might try to attack or kill him and he was still trying to figure that out.

The vampire's eyes narrowed, though whether it was at the words or the motion was unclear, "You mean to tell me you would allow yourself to be convinced?"

"I try to be open minded about these things," Gimli offered weakly.

"You fascinate me because when confronted with me initially you didn't stake me.  You could have, I gave you plenty of openings.  Instead you talked.  You told me you want to create things, but you never staked me," he rolled a shoulder.  "I was behaving in a way that would have allowed you to do so more than once and you never took the opportunity.  I want to know why."

"It's not," Gimli paused, not quite flushing. "I mean... you weren't attacking me either you know!"

"I dragged you out of the club and threw you into an alley, that's usually grounds for a dusting."

"Yes," Gimli said slowly. "But... you never actually attacked me really. I'm not the only damned strange one here alright?"

"I wasn't told to kill you, only to deal with you," Legolas responded with a shrug.  "Do you think we kill everyone we meet?"

"Directly? Probably," Gimli said with a shrug. "I don't know, stuff like that doesn't quite make its way into the lore but you are monsters out of horror."

"If we've lived for any length of time we do have some control," came the testy response.

"Being a creature that lives on the blood of others has nothing to do with having control, it's just your nature to be a monster," Gimli said, thinking he really should not be pressing this point.

Legolas growled softly at that, "It's human nature to be monstrous, we're just more open about it than you lot are."

"Right. I don't know about some of the others but I'm pretty sure I don't feed on other people's lives," Gimli snapped. "And I'm pretty sure I've never killed anyone."

" _We_ have lives," Legolas snarled in response.

"You're undead, so only in the most technical sense," Gimli said, flushing and looking uncomfortable again.

Legolas looked him over, "We have family and ties the same as you do.  We grieve those closest to us."  He paused, blue eyes sharp, "How many of us have you actually encountered?"

"Encountered?" Gimli managed, voice strained. "A couple."

"And dusted?" His eyebrow arched.

"Well that would be more a count of zero," Gimli said, trying not to blush again.

That earned a long blink and then a faint smile, "None at all?"

“None," Gimli confirmed, finally flushing again to admit it.

"I appear to have misjudged you,” Legolas murmured, almost sounding marveling.

Shoulders tensing, Gimli took a step backward. "There seems to be a lot of that going around. Meanwhile, I'm sure your body count is somewhere through the roof."

"I have to eat.  I can miss feedings, but a vampire who starves themselves is far more dangerous and closer to insanity than one who accepts its state," Legolas replied quietly.

"So that's over three hundred people a year," Gimli said quietly and Legolas did not correct him because that had once been true. "And you think we're monsters for trying to stop that?"

"I didn't say that.  But loss hurts us just as it hurts you," Legolas responded.

"It must be so hard for you," Gimli snapped. "Have you ever thought about what happens to those families of the people you eat?"

"Often, but I'm selfish and I would rather live," Legolas responded callously.

"Well that's wonderful for you, to extend your life at the expense of other's." Gimli shook his head and crossed his arms, still wondering if he ran he would escape.

"Are you telling me you wouldn't?" Legolas watched him, considering whether to let him go or not.

"Kill others to keep myself alive? Probably not," Gimli said. "At least I would think that I wouldn't but I still have a human consciousness."

"It's not as though I have another option," the blond muttered.

Gimli tensed his shoulders again. "You could stop," he said. "You could, I don't know, stop pretending to live when you're so clearly not."

"What defines living?"  Legolas snapped.  "I feel. I walk, I talk, I think!  The only thing I don't do is breathe, and my heart doesn't beat.  What in the hell defines living?"

"Not having to kill others to do it," Gimli said. "Being able to walk into the sunlight and the world."

Legolas snarled at that, "I live more now than I ever did in the sunlight."

"Really?" Gimli said and took a step forward this time. "You say you live? How do you live in this sort of a world without light, without love, without having remorse for human beings? You say you mourn but you kill."

"I have a hell of a lot more love in this life than I did in the last," the vampire snapped.  "Don't you dare presume otherwise."

"Who do you love then?" Gimli asked. "And who loves you?"

"My sire," he spoke with more conviction than he felt about that particular relationship.

"And that's all the love you want?" Gimli frowned. He remembered nights curled around his mother in the settee in front of the window, hoping his father would return, before she left them both. Or the days spent in a pile on the floor with Fili and Kili and Ori, Ori usually reading aloud to them as Kili and Gimli wrestled, trying to best each other. Or the way his father would smile at him for doing something well, or the swell of emotion he felt when listening to Thorin some nights. From all sides he was surrounded by love, even though it teetered on the edge of destruction and he could not imagine only finding it from one source.

"It's all the love I need," came the answer.

"Right," Gimli said and shook his head. "I mean, if you say so it must be so right?"

Legolas finally looked away, his blond hair hanging in his face slightly, "You don't sound like you believe that."

"Not particularly," he shook his head. "I mean, as I said, if you say it must be true, you're either lying or you believe it. So carry on."

"What love would you think I need beyond that?" He looked up again, tilting his head on one side.

"People need more than one person to love and by loved by but you're not really a person," Gimli said and wondered if he'd caught Fili's deathwish by accident.

That earned a vicious snarl, "And what do you know about it?"

Gimli took a step back, erasing the step he'd taken forward. "Maybe nothing. But considering how much you've been stalking me, it seems like something doesn't make you happy."

"That would be your fucking cousin's fault, thank you," Legolas growled, but reined his temper in as much as he could.

Something shattered in Gimli's face and he took another step back. "I'm pretty certain we'd rather have him back than with you as well but that's just not really--no really--possible."

Legolas looked at him for a long moment before glancing away, "I'm sorry.  I know you would.  I would rather he was with you, I'd rather he'd never been fucking seen and that he was safe and sound in your home.  Because then he wouldn't be fucking up my life."

"But he's not!" Gimli yelled, the sound echoing up the alley. "But he's not because that's what your kind do. You kill and everyone's life gets fucked up and it hurts and you took him from us and now you have to live with that so you'll excuse me if I don't find him fucking up your life that much of a tragedy! Because I'd rather he still be around to fuck up mine!"

Legolas darted an almost panicked look up the alley, "You say that like I did it.  Don't you fucking dare blame me for this!  People die, people grieve, you damn well move on!  Whether he's the first one you lost or the thirty-first.  You figure it the hell out and you don't blame someone who didn't _do it_."

"You're a part of that line, you're the same creature and you're the one complaining about having something I'd give anything to still have," Gimli said, wanting to slam the other into the wall and taking a step forward before stopping.

"I don't have what you had _, hunter_ ," Legolas replied, managing not to snarl.  "I have a shadow of what you had."

"But it's still Kili," Gimli said. "A shadow or not, don't you dare--"

"Don't I dare what?"

"Don't you dare dismiss it," Gimli said, finishing almost in a whisper.

Legolas fixed him with a long stare at that, "Then what should I do with it? Because I'm not sure I can care for him."

Gimli ran a hand over his face, shaking his head slightly. "I don't know. I just, I don't know. I'm not sure why you dragged me out here, or frankly where the others kept walking or what you want me to say."

"I'm trying to understand you, clever hunter."  He shook his head, "But that's probably foolish of me.  You should get back, and so should I."

"I'd hate to think I could be understood in one conversation," Gimli muttered down to his feet.

"Is that an invitation to try again?" Legolas' brow arched.

"Would you need an invitation to kidnap me again?" Gimli asked, looking back up.

"Well it's rather a risk to do so.  I'm just wondering if there's a reason for me to."

"I'm fairly certain I wouldn't have a say in it one way or another," he replied and shook his head before patting his pockets until he found an old receipt and a pencil. "But next time? Just call alright? Because this is not a good contact situation."

Legolas blinked at him, taking the receipt, "Call?  I...I can do that."

Gimli just rolled his eyes and shook his head, muttering something about technology over adductions. "Look, if this is some cunning plan to find out where he live I figure Kili already knows and you haven't shown signs of wanting to kill me."

"Yes, Kili knows, and no I've no intention of killing you."  He considered the number on the slip of paper before folding it and putting it in his pocket, "Go carefully tonight.  Our line won't kill yours, but there are others in this city who might."

"Right, kidnap me from the group I was safe in and then make me continue on my way alone," Gimli shook his head. "I love this relationship already."

"I can get you most of the way back to them.  Even with the time we've been here I doubt they've gone far," Legolas responded, doing his best not to react to the word 'relationship.'

"Yeah alright," Gimli said and kicked the ground. "I'd really rather not die tonight."

Legolas nodded once, "Well, come on, then.  I need to be back before I'm missed as well."

As they started to walk, Gimli glanced up. "I am pretty serious about not doing this abduction thing again though."

"I have your number now," Legolas reminded.  "I don't need to abduct you to talk to you."

"Good," Gimli nodded. "Just, you know, worried that might have been your status quo or something."

Legolas growled but didn't respond, travelling in silence until they were just a corner away from the other hunters at which point he left Gimli and returned to the vampires' mansion, waiting outside for Elladan and Elrohir to appear.

He didn't have long to wait before the twins could be seen coming up the street.

Elladan glanced over at his brother before turning back to Legolas. "You look like a right fright."

"Oh like you always come back from the hunt looking perfect," Legolas replied, rolling his eyes and pushing the front door open.

Elrohir's eyebrow arched, "What bit you back tonight?"

"There's a difference between looking effortlessly flawless and the way you currently look," Elladan said, stepping almost on Legolas' heels.

"And how do I look?" the blond offered Elladan an unimpressed look.

"Not sure yet, but it's not of the good. I'm still just figuring out why," he said and pulled at the back of Legolas' hair. "You certainly didn't catch anyone tonight."

Legolas yanked his head away with a growl, nearly stumbling into Elrohir, "What makes you say that?"

"You're never this cranky when you've had something to eat," Elrohir answered, catching Legolas and spotting something.  He pulled out the receipt with Gimli's number--the corner of it visible in Legolas' pocket, "What's this?"

"That's mine!"  The blond reached for it, only to have it held out of reach while Elrohir tried to fend him off.

"Is that a phone number?" Elladan asked, instantly at his brother's shoulder and peering at the paper.

Snarling and lunging for the paper again, Legolas swore as Elrohir handed it to his brother, "That’s what it appears to be.  I'll hold him off, you call it.  I want to know who would give him something like this."

"A possible prey who gave me their number but their friends drew them away before I could make good on it."

"Where’d you meet them?"  Elrohir tipped his head on one side.

"A club after you two went after that couple." He answered and tried to get the number again.

Elrohir chuckled, "You hate nightclubs.  I don't buy it."

"And you still haven’t eaten anything," Elladan said, pulling his cell out and starting to punch in the number.

"I said their friends drew them away," Legolas snapped, lunging for the phone, but Elrohir blocked him.

Elrohir's brow arched, but he looked toward his brother's phone, "And there are never lonely singles in a nightclub."

"If you would even walk into a night club," Elladan said, dancing away.

"Get off," the blond growled, throwing Elrohir off and advancing on Elladan.  "Give me the phone."

"It's my phone," Elladan said and hit dial, putting the phone on speaker.

Legolas snarled, but Elrohir pulled him back before he could do bodily damage to Elladan or break the phone.  Elrohir shook his black hair out of his face and grinned as it kept ringing, "Looks like they're not much inclined to answer tonight."

"Damn," Elladan said and shook his head as the answering machine clicked on.

"This is the number of Gimli and I can't make it to the phone so you'll have to try again later or I can try getting back to you. Whichever." And clicked back off.

For a long moment Elladan didn't move, flicking his phone shut. "Well, that's unexpected. Also, that better not be prey."

Legolas froze and Elrohir blinked, looking from the phone to his brother to the blond, "Gimli.  That's...You have a _hunter's_ number?  I'm with Elladan.  That sure as hell better not have been prey."

"It...He's been entranced by the starlit lady.  I distracted him and ended up with his number.  No, he wasn't prey," Legolas tried.

"Galadriel didn't go out tonight," Elladan said. "She stayed in with Celeborn."

"That doesn't mean he wasn't--"

Elrohir cut him off, "You're right, it doesn't.  It does however mean that you've now seen him at least twice.  And hey, phone number."

"Which isn't in your hand writing," Elladan said. "And it probably means he knows you're a vampire."

"So the question arises, what do you think you're doing?" Elrohir tilted his head to one side.

"He confuses me.  And he hasn't staked me yet.  He gave me the number so I can talk to him without either of us ending up on the wrong end of either a stake or fangs,” Legolas admitted, as the twins would never give up before they got an answer that satisfied them.

Elladan blinked once, trying to process that. "You... you're totally joking right? Please tell me you're joking because ha ha."

"And if I'm not?" Legolas challenged.

"Then you're more stupid than I thought," Elrohir answered, gaping at the other.

"Killing hunters is off the table so you've decided to seduce one?" Elladan asked. "Grand sire is going to kill you deader than he's currently threatening to kill Kili."

"I'm not seducing him!  I'm trying to figure him out, I already said he confuses me," Legolas protested.

"Which is two steps from saying you're falling for him," Elrohir replied, calmly.

"Which is two steps too close for a vampire. I mean, it could be downright poetic," he said after a pause. "The vampire and the hunter. It's like a horrible soap opera or--or that show that people still like so much, though that was, what, a slayer in love with a vampire. Slayer, hunter, same difference. It’s poetic on television but not in real life. You're completely insane."

"I'm not fucking falling in love with him," Legolas growled.

"But you could.  I recommend losing that number and staying away from him," Elrohir said.

"Or what?" Legolas demanded, feeling ganged up on and on edge.

"Or I'll go to grandsire and the lady,” Elrohir said without pausing to pretend to think about it.

Legolas gaped at him, "You wouldn't dare."

"We'd dare a lot of things," Elladan said with a shrug. "But that's not the point here. Why does he fascinate you so much you're willing to risk it?"

"Because he doesn't want the life he's got.  He doesn't want to be a hunter, he wants to create," Legolas answered, deciding that honesty was the best choice at the moment.

Elladan paused, exchanging a look like his brother. "As I said, you should get your own TV show or something."

Elrohir rubbed his forehead in a move that was strongly reminiscent of his sire, "You're going to get yourself staked.  And if it's not a hunter who does it it's going to be grandsire."

"He's pretty protective," Elladan added. "So you're going to... forget this happened right? Just move on?"

"Of course," Legolas replied after a moment.

Elrohir looked like he doubted it, but he nodded, "Good."

"So I can tear up this number?" Elladan asked, dangling it in front of Legolas' face.

His jaw tightened and his hands clenched, but he finally nodded, "Yes."

"And you're not going to do something stupid like finding him on a hunt again?" Elrohir asked.

Legolas nodded again, barely a dip of his chin, "Right."

Shaking his head, Elladan slipped the number into his back pocket. "Good."

"Thought you said you were tearing that up," Legolas frowned, looking at Elladan.

"Not where you can find the pieces," Elladan returned.

"You don't trust my word?" Legolas demanded, almost snarling and barely restraining himself. Growing more angry would hardly help his case with the twins.

"No, we really don't," Elrohir replied with a shrug.

"Not when it comes to things like this," Elladan agreed, leaning his elbow on his brother’s shoulder and resting his chin there.

"Oh, fuck off," Legolas growled before pushing past both of them and heading up the stairs.

"We should tell grandsire," Elladan said softly under his breath. "Because this is bad."

"Should we mention it to grandmother?" Elrohir murmured in response, tilting his head slightly nearer his twin's.

"That might be safer," Elladan said. "Though I'd almost rather not tell either of them. I don't trust that this is it though."

"If you talk to grandsire I'll talk to her?" Elrohir proposed.  "We could leave it until tomorrow even."

"Telling grandsire will probably end in someone dying," Elladan pointed out. “It’s why I think we should tell him, but honestly don’t want to.”

"We could leave it to grandmother to tell him?  Someone higher than us needs to know about this."

"So far there's nothing to tell," Elladan said, sighing and tilting his body further against Elrohir’s. "Only if this continues."

"Which means one of us is going to need to go hunting with him every night from here on if we plan on keeping track of that," he almost groaned.  "Oh that will be so much fun."

"Think of it as family bonding time," Elladan grinned.

"Just what we always wanted," Elrohir replied dryly, but his lips turned upward into the start of a matching grin.

"We'll at least have plenty of chances to drive him crazy," Elladan pointed out.

That garnered a full grin, "This is actually sounding more and more like it could be truly fun."

"We just have to play it right," Elladan grinned.

"And we know very well how to do that.  After all, we've ages of practice."

"Exactly," Elladan agreed before heading up the stairs, intending to burn the number so Legolas couldn't try to put it back together.

-0-

Bofur stumbled into the kitchen a few mornings later, crossing to the coffee pot and pouring himself a cup as he glanced at Ori who was already there, "Morning."

"You look like hell," Ori said, making scrambled eggs.

"Didn't sleep well last night," Bofur replied.  "You're rather blunt this mornin'."

"One of those mornings," he said with a shrug. "Have some eggs though," he added, dishing up the ones he had just finished and passing them over to Bofur before cracking open several more eggs over the pan.

Blinking at the plate for a moment, Bofur grabbed a fork and retreated slightly to the table, "Thank you.  How are you, besides blunt, this morning?"

"Mostly blunt," Ori said. "Speaking of which, how's that festering lust you have for Fili doing?"

Bofur nearly choked, swallowing before he turned to look at Ori, "What?"

"Well, with everything going on and such," Ori shrugged, scrapping the sides of the pan with the spatula. "Your crush must be hurting. You ever, I don't know, plan on telling him?"

"God no," Bofur shook his head, turning his attention back to his food.

"You should you know," Ori said, still not turning around. "And not just because you're downright pathetic when you think he isn't looking."

Turning to look at him again, Bofur leveled him with a long look, "Why does everyone think you're so sweet and adorable?"

"I'm actually not sure," Ori said. "It might be the big eyes." As he said it, his eyes widened to show what he meant.

"I think it's the knitwear," Bofur offered.  "You wear rather a lot of it."

"So between the two of those things, people come to completely the wrong conclusions," Ori shrugged. "As I said, it's downright pathetic."

"Really?  You're calling--why is it?"

"Why is your crush pathetic?" Ori asked, glancing over his shoulder. "Because you mope and you stare and you're obviously attached and do nothing about it. Ergo, it's sad."

Bofur huffed a sigh at that, "Yeah, well it's pretty apparent that it doesn't matter if I say anything or not."

"Doesn't it?" Ori asked, tilting his head back, even though his voice turned softer.

"I'd rather not hear him say he doesn't reciprocate, thank you," Bofur said, more to his plate than to Ori who sighed quietly.

"You don't actually know he doesn't," Ori pointed out, turning around with another plate of eggs and moving to the table.

"And what evidence do I have that he does?"  Bofur looked at him as he sat down.

Ori shrugged. "I don't know. He didn't you know, kill you or anything."

The other man looked unimpressed, "Which obviously means he feels the same."

"Well, I'm not saying it's an undying declaration but it might mean something,” Ori offered, musing to himself how far everyone was gone if he was handing out what amounted to love advice.

Bofur finished his eggs before shrugging slightly, "Maybe.  Maybe not.  I’m not planning on telling him, though."

"You're rather a lot of a fool," Ori shrugged.

"Thank you for breakfast," Bofur answered with a hint of a smile as he rose and put his dishes in the sink.

"I'd rather be thanked for my advice," Ori said from the table. "But suit yourself."

"All you did was tell me to tell him and call me pathetic for not doing so," Bofur replied, turning from the sink.

"Well, on the fact that he doesn't actually hate you," Ori said.

"You think," Bofur responded, before finally caving a little.  "I'll think about it."

"That's a lot of thoughts," Ori said, arching his brows.

That earned a wry grin, "Yeah, well there were a lot of thoughts offered."

"I suppose so," Ori said, finishing his own breakfast before moving to the sink and running water over the dishes.

"Well, I oughta be gettin' to work.  I'll see you later, Ori."

"Yeah yeah," he said quietly. "Have a good day. Enjoy your thoughts."

Bofur waved, slipping out and pausing long enough to offer Dis a good day.  Dis watched him go with an arched brow before stepping into the kitchen, "Ah, there you are, Ori."

"Um, yes?" he said, looking over from where he was washing the dishes. "Can I help you?"

"I was planning to go out and run some errands today.  Even with it being the middle of the day my brother would prefer I not go out alone these days and I was hoping you would accompany me," she shifted her purse further up on her shoulder.

"Um," he paused and blinked over at her. "Me?"

Dis nodded once, "Yes, you."

"You sure?" he asked, arching his brow in confusion.

"Considering I have spent the last fifteen minutes looking for you, yes I'm sure," her lips curled upward into a faint smile.  "So are you coming?"

"Give me a minute to get my coat," he said after a heart beat before heading upstairs.

Suppressing a wider smile, Dis went to wait at the bottom of the stairs until Ori joined her again.  "I was thinking to start downtown, and stop for groceries last on our way home."

"Alright," Ori said, pulling on a pair of fingerless gloves and opening the door for her.

Dis stepped through the door and fell silent until they were a couple of blocks away, "How little has your brother taught you?"

"Um, what?" he asked, looking over, startled by the question. "What do you mean?"

"I mean your training.  I know you haven't much of it, I'm curious if you have any groundwork or if I'm going to be starting from the bottom up?"  She slid her purse off of her shoulder and started rifling through it.

He watched her a moment, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Nothing, I mean, he's resisted all sorts of training. On any level."

Dis glanced at him and nodded before pulling out a small can that resembled pepper spray, "Here, take this.  Consider it your first line of defense, but not your last."

He blinked, considering the can, turning it over a couple times. "What is it then?"

"It's something Frerin made me," she answered.  "It works like pepper spray, but can be refilled and rearmed.  And it disperses holy water.  It will buy you a few moments."

"Holy water spray?" Ori asked. "That... I like that."

"So did I.  I have another back at the house.  This one's yours and I'll show you how to rearm it later," Dis smiled.  "So the next part will be training you with a stake, they're easy to conceal and something that doesn't require aiming like a distance weapon."

"Alright," Ori said with a nod. "I sorta got Dori to at least consider it but... He's still going so slowly."

Dis turned down a side street, "And that would be exactly why I asked you to accompany me.  I can hardly train you directly under his nose, after all.  He may be in denial about you, but he wouldn't be able to overlook that."

Blinking, Ori followed her down the side street. "Alright."

"What do you know about the creatures?"

"I've read a lot of Dori's books," Ori offered, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets.

"Then you know that they're well spoken, and can act human even though they're not.  Which hand is your strongest?"

"Right," Ori said automatically.

"Then that's the one we'll be training you to use the stake.  You'll learn to use your left one with the spray," Dis nodded once, more to herself than to him.

He considered that for a moment and then nodded. "Alright. Are we actually intending to go shopping though?"

"We are, and then we'll be seeing about a good time to start your training," Dis agreed.  "Sometime within the next couple of days I think."

“Cool,” he said, offering her a beaming smile which she returned with a more sedate one of her own. For the first time in days, Ori found himself feeling almost cheered at the thought that maybe he could finally do something beside sit by the door and knit while he waited for the others to come home, Dori’s shoulders exhausted, Fili’s eyes haunted and Gimli looking like he’d rather cut his own hands off than fight another night.

Maybe he could finally have the chance to do more then just wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We do promise we have not forgotten this story in any way, shape, or form. 
> 
> Gimli and Legolas still have a lot of issues to work their way through before real communication can hope to happen.


	4. If I'm Narcissistic, so Are You

Fili blinked once as both Thorin and Bofur met him at the door. "You're joking," he said more to himself than either of them, making sure he had stakes on his belt, as well as a crossbow. "Where are we patrolling tonight then?"

"The docks, down south," Thorin replied. "There's been strange disappearances there all week and I want to know why."

Bofur checked over his own weapons, glancing from Thorin to Fili and trying to remember how he had ended up on this particular hunt, "Pier six has been the focus for those."

"Yes," Thorin agreed. "The warehouses there are probably hiding something."

Glancing at Bofur, as if wondering what he was doing there are well, Fili followed his uncle to his old beat up car, sliding into the front seat without bothering to ask or look at Bofur. Bofur sighed very slightly before settling into the backseat, his focus out the window as they pulled away and headed toward the docks

For a while, Fili fiddled with the radio until a dark look from Thorin made him stop, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest instead.

Objectively the ride was fairly long, as the docks were on the other side of town, but subjectively, Fili felt like he wanted to scream the longer he sat in the oppressive silence of the car. Thorin did not look impressed as he got out as well, pulling a sword from the back of the car. "We stick together, and we do this carefully."

"Totally careful," Fili agreed, and Thorin just stared him down a long moment before leading the way inside the building, Fili carrying a heavy flashlight.

Bofur hesitated, hefting his crossbow and wishing he had something more hefty not for the first time since he'd entered this life, the wood felt like it was the wrong shape in his hands.

"You alright?" Fili asked, glancing back at him.

The brunet nodded once, falling into step next to the others, "Crossbow always feels wrong in my hand is all."

Fili frowned at him. "Then why do you use it?" he asked and Thorin hissed for them to be quiet, turning the corner and motioning Fili with the flashlight forward.

Bofur managed not to breathe a sigh of relief at not having to answer that it had everything to do with the fact that it was a distance weapon which meant he couldn't always see the vampire's expression as they turned to dust.

"There doesn't seem to be anything here," Fili remarked, taking a step out in the large room, shining the flash light around the different corners. He took another step forward without looking down and yelped as the floor gave way beneath him. Falling a story and a half, landing on a pile of boxes, Fili didn't have the breath to yell in pain, the flashlight clattering down to the floor below him.

"Fili!" Thorin roared, rushing forward but stopping before the hole and bending his head down.

Bofur came to a stop a pace back from Thorin as he let his eyes dart around the dark warehouse, trying to find a safe route down to where Fili was from their current floor.  He thought he could make out a door ajar across the room which might have stairs behind it, "Thorin, there may be a way down, over there."

"I'm fine," Fili choked out, pushing himself up.

"Don't go anywhere," Thorin said, a hint of desperation in his voice to lose his line of sight on Fili. "We're heading down."

"There's not a lot of where for me to go," Fili said. "I'm going to get down and get the flashlight. I'll be here though, don't worry."

Bofur spared another glance down the hole before straightening and  letting his eyes adjust to the gloom just a bit more and waiting for Thorin before making his cautious way across the floor, checking to make sure it wouldn't give out underneath them as they took the most direct route toward the door.

Cursing to himself, Fili started down toward where the flashlight as shining toward one of the walls, nearly knocking some of the crates over on his way down, falling hard at the end and cursing. "Son of a bitch," he muttered, bending down to pick up the flashlight and hearing a sound behind him. Shoulders tensing, he hefted up the flashlight and swung it, aiming for where someone's head would be if they were behind him.

Except that Kili caught it easily, twisting it out of Fili's grip and sending it skittering across the floor, barely illuminating the room so that Fili could still see his face. "Ki--" Fili managed to get out before Kili kicked him hard enough in the stomach that he slammed back against the wall. Coughing, he pushed himself to his knees, looking up at where Kili had just been, only to see emptiness.

Warily, Fili clambered to his feet, stepping away from the wall so that he could turn around, looking for where Kili had gone only to have Kili slam up from behind him, wrapping an arm around his chest, the other gripping his chin. Crying out, Fili tried to struggle away, except now Kili was so much stronger than he was. "Kili," Fili tried. "Kili, what are you doing?"

"You're the one that came hunting here," Kili said, voice right next to Fili's ear and Fili tensed.

"Because people have been disappearing," Fili hissed. "You know we always track down what leads we can. You should know better."

Kili paused, and he could feel the blood beating underneath Fili's skin and the hand around Fili's throat loosened, stroking the skin there instead. "I can hear it," he marveled. It was his brother, and he still remembered doing a thousand things with Fili at his side, lazy afternoons and fights that almost broke the foundation of the house with their screaming that raised high above Thorin's thunder.

"Hear what?" Fili asked, freezing when he felt Kili's cold hand stroke his throat.

"You're life," Kili said, and he found himself resting his fangs against the side of Fili's neck before he seemed to process the motion. Fili forgot to breath. "I can hear it," Kili said, jerking his teeth back. Fili sucked in a desperate breath when the fangs were removed and Kili paused, tilting his head to better get a look at the patch of skin. Working a finger around, he pulled the collar of Fili's shirt down, his other arm still a vice around Fili's chest. "Do you ever think of it?" he asked, eyes trained on the patch of skin in the low light from the discarded flashlight.

"About what?" Fili asked, trying to keep his tone conversational and stall for Thorin and Bofur to get downstairs. He tried to shift around to get to one of his stakes and realized he couldn't.

"About us," Kili said, directly into Fili's ear, making him jump as much as he could in Kili's grip. "Did you ever desire me?"

"What?" Fili rasped, staring straight ahead as Kili laughed into his ear. "Are you insane? You're--he was my brother."

"I'm a vampire now," Kili said, his free hand stroking Fili's collarbone and Fili shived, the touch colder than the air around them. "Things like that don't matter anymore. I can't even remember if they did while I was human or not."

Fili's shoulders jerked and he tried to twitch away. "Stop it. That's not true."

Just laughing again, Kili dragged the hand around Fili's chest down before clamping it back around his chest. The laugh rumbled in his chest and Fili could feel it on his back, which finally distracted him from the lack of a heartbeat or warmth behind him. "Do you know what it was like, growing up behind you? Always watching you, idolizing you? Or what it was like to share a room with you, especially since you're such a heavy sleeper? I dreamed about you--"

Jerking forward, Fili tried to break Kili's grip, only earning another laugh for his troubles. "Shut up! That's not true, you're just, just trying to mess with me and it's not true--"

"Except it was," Kili murmured, grabbing Fili's chin to tilt his head back, to whisper in his ear again. The sound was low and intimate and Fili couldn't stop the shiver down his spine. "We always loved differently from other brothers."

"Not like that!" Fili said, and he struggled forward.

"If I had come to you as a human," Kili said and Fili froze. "You would have given in. For you know you could have denied me nothing. Can you deny this makes you aroused?" Kili asked, his hand drifting lower. Fili leaned back, letting the arm around his chest move lower as if Kili was determined to figure out the answer for himself.

Jerking his chin down, Fili bit Kili's hand and used the leverage around his waist to surge forward and flip Kili over his back, fumbling for a stake or holy water or anything as Kili was on his feet sooner than Fili could have expected.

Except that he just laughed, the sound lost more than sinister and it made Fili freeze, weapon only half out as they stared at each other. "You," Fili started and tried again. "You are not my brother anymore."

"I will always be your brother," Kili said and surged forward, slamming Fili's shoulders into the wall. "And you'll never be able to convince yourself of that otherwise."

"I'll try damn hard," Fili snarled and Kili laughed again, dragging his hands to Fili's wrists and pinning his hands to the wall.

"You never did answer my question," he said, right into Fili's ear again. "Whether you could have denied me anything. Whether you desired me."

Fili just twitched, and before he could try to reply, Kili drew away with an angry snarl, a crossbow bolt imbedded in his shoulder but having missed his heart by a mile.

Bofur already had another bolt in place and raised the weapon to aim it again in the dim light, "Get away from him."  His gaze briefly darted to Fili to make sure there were no obvious wounds though it was hard to tell from the distance.

Kili snarled, Thorin standing behind Bofur with his sword raised. "No," Kili hissed.

Something almost cold snapped into place behind Bofur's usually gentle eyes and he lowered his aim the fraction that it took to level it at the vampire's heart.  He didn't look away from Kili as he spoke under his breath to Thorin, "Your call, Thorin."

"He's not human," Thorin said but even the hesitation to ask was enough for Kili to wipe around, throwing Fili in front of him, who had gotten a stake out and Kili broke the fingers holding it so that Fili dropped the stake entirely with a cut off shriek.

"Would you kill him too?" Kili asked, wrapped back around Fili and Thorin took an abortive step forward.

Bofur tensed, his hands tightening on the crossbow.  The light wasn't good enough for him to be able to actually accomplish any decent shots that might get the other to release Fili.  I better light, with a weapon he trusted more he might manage to hit the vampire, but the probability was low.  He kept it leveled, but knew it would do little good in the current situation.

"Let him go," Thorin demanded, taking a step forward and Kili smirked at him, resting his teeth against Fili's neck, making Thorin stop in his tracks.

Bofur's breath caught at that, feeling a shock of fear go through him, "Don't."

"Why not?" Kili asked, teeth still dangerously close to Fili's neck as the blond strained away, shifting to see if he could find a weak point in Kili's grip. "I'd have my brother with me for eternity. Why wouldn't I turn him?"

"You remember him?" Thorin asked, stupidly frozen and unable to think of what to do, with Kili watching him and Fili's life on the table.

Bofur lowered the crossbow very slightly, eyes locked on Kili, "You wouldn't, though, and you know it.  He might have his memories eventually, but he'd lose what makes him Fili.  You'd take that away from him."

"It was taken away from me," Kili snarled and Fili froze. "And I still want him by me. That's all that matters, isn't it?"

"Is it?"  Bofur spoke warily, his tone calm, "You want to take the risk that he hates himself after his turning?  That he might hate you for taking that choice from him?"

Kili froze, the fear that would be the case reflected in his eyes and Fili moved again, twisting and dropping, breaking Kili's hold. Kicking out, he tripped Kili, knocking him to the ground and this time Fili managed to fumble out a stake before Kili could move. On his knees, Kili froze, staring wide eyed up at Fili, who froze.

"That's not your brother," Thorin roared behind him, suddenly moving forward but Fili was still between him and Kili. Except it was Kili's brown eyes looking up at him in the dim light. "It's just a trick, it's not him."

Bofur took two steps forward, but Fili was blocking any clear shot, "Fili, he's gone.  It looks like him but your brother's gone, this thing just looks like him."

"Fili," was the only thing Kili said, looking up at him and Fili took a step back, the stake dropping from the limp fingers of his functioning hand.

"I can't," he rasped. "I don't care, I can't." And may god strike me down, he added to himself, fully expecting his brother to do exactly that.

Except Kili just stared at him a moment longer before he was gone, shifting so fast, Fili's mortal eyes couldn't track the moment. Thorin roared again and Kili shoved Bofur out of the door and past him.

Collapsing to his knees, Fili let his forehead rest against the floor in front of him as he covered his ears, one hand bleeding from his broken fingers. He wished that if he couldn't see or hear the world, it wouldn't see or hear him.

Bofur stumbled backward, glad that his hand hadn't been on the trigger because he had no chance of controlling the bolt.  He lowered the crossbow and moved to FIli's side quickly, kneeling beside him.  He paused before reaching to touch the blond's shoulder, "Fili, we need to get moving."

"No," Fili whimpered and Thorin approached, having tried to chase Kili for several steps before realizing it was futile and storming back to his nephew.

He yanked at Fili's shoulder, dragging him back up and ignoring the gasp of pain. There were bruises on Fili's shoulders from where Kili had slammed him around. "Get up," he growled. "We need to get you home."

Bofur levered himself to his feet, looking at Thorin, "Oin's not going to be able to do enough for his hand."

"We can't afford the hospital," Thorin said.

"My hand will be fine," Fili said, swaying on his feet and not looking up at either of them.

"Those bones won't set right," Bofur returned, but he knew Thorin was right and backed down.

"It'll be fine," Fili tried to protest and Thorin swept the flashlight up, leading the way back to the car, Fili cradling his hand against his chest.

Bofur didn't look like he believed that as well, but he kept his thoughts to himself as he walked next to Fili, sliding into the backseat once they reached the car.

This time, Fili collapsed into the back seat as well, as far from Thorin as he could get in the small car, and starting to tear his already stained shirt up to wrap around his hand so at least he wouldn't bleed on the car.

Jaw tightening at that, Thorin slammed the car through the quiet streets, trying to get home quickly. He wanted to howl at the road and at Fili.

Bofur glanced at Fili, biting back the stupid question of whether he was alright, instead gently reaching for him, "Let me help you there?"

Hissing out a breath, Fili almost protested but then he nodded, shifting his hand out slightly so that Bofur could do what he wanted.

Bofur winced at the up close sight of Fili's hand before taking the strips of cloth and some of his crossbow bolts and fashioning a rudimentary bandage and splint, wishing there was a way to do it without inflicting more pain.

"Why do you always seem to be the one putting me back together?" Fili asked, voice an undertone as he watched Bofur, lights from streetlamps flashing through the window as Thorin swerved the car around a corner.

"I guess I just end up being the one around when it needs to happen," Bofur answered quietly, keeping his gaze on Fili's hand even as he braced himself to avoid as much jostling as possible due to Thorin's driving. Fili didn't look like that answer was enough but he didn't push it, swallowing hard instead.

Bofur glanced toward Thorin and then back to Fili, still speaking softly enough that he probably wouldn't be heard from the front seat, "I know you're not one to talk but if you need someone to listen, or hell, someone who can talk so you don't have to I’m around."

Frowning, Fili tilted his head slightly, not trusting anything they said not to be picked up by Thorin, and wondering why he suddenly didn't want Thorin to hear a thing. "Alright," he said instead. "Thank you."

Bofur nodded very slightly and finally tied off the bandage, letting go of Fili's hand.

Moments later, Thorin brought them into their driveway, slamming out of the car. Taking a deep breath, Fili glanced back at Bofur. "He's probably going to yell at me again," he said in an undertone, wry smile on his face before opening his own door.

Bofur offered a faint smile, "I wish you all the luck in the world then.  I'll be in the kitchen for the next hour or two probably." Shooting him a half confused look, Fili nodded and stepped out of the car, following Thorin inside, his uncle already demanding Oin.

Oin appeared as requested a handful of minutes later, his kit with him.  People had come out on the landings at Thorin's shouts, Dis halfway down the bottom flight by the time Fili entered.

"See what you can do for Fili's hand," Thorin said, impetuous.

"What happened?" Ori asked, managing to shove himself to the front of the group just as Nori started moving back, adapt at avoiding dramatic situations that didn't directly involve Dori.

Oin moved over to FIli, motioning toward a side room where the younger man would be able to sit down so he could look at it, "What did you do to you hand?"

Bofur spoke under his breath as he paused by Ori, "Kili was at the docks."

"Fuck," was all that Ori managed in reply to that as Fili sank down on the couch, looking up at Oin.

"A vampire broke my hand," he replied, voice bland and Thorin towered over him, anger still in every line of his body.

Oin pulled a footstool over and sat on it, taking Fili's hand and carefully unwrapping the bandage to get a look at it, "You let it get hold of you?"

Dis appeared in the doorway to the room, stepping inside to lean against the wall, her gaze focused on her son.

Trying not to laugh hysterically, Fili nodded. Gimli peered around the doorframe but he didn't quite dare step inside. "Yeah, he got ahold of me."

"Several times," Thorin said, and Fili looked at the floor rather than anyone else or his hand.

Dis froze at that, her gaze shifting to her brother, "You let that happen?"

"I didn't have a choice," he said, shifting away from her slightly. "He fell through the floor and we were still finding a way down."

Her expression hardened, "Is it dust?"

"No," Thorin replied and Fili swallowed hard. "He let it get away."

"Goddamnit, what did you expect me to do?" burst out of Fili, head snapping up and eyes blazing.

"It's dead," Thorin snarled back. "It's not--"

"It looks like Kili, it talks like Kili, it damn well moves like Kili," Fili snapped back, shoulders tense. "How could you have expected that of me?" In the doorway, Gimli's jaw dropped and the quiet murmur of conversation going on in the hallway stopped abruptly.

Dis paled, her eyes darting to where Oin's hands had stilled in his exploration of the breaks in FIli's hand, "Then you get out of the way and give your uncle a clear shot.  Damn it, Fili."

Fili's eyes widened into a brief expression of complete betrayal before he ducked his head back down again. "That creature had its fangs at your neck," Thorin said. "Do you really still think it was your brother at all?"

Drawing a sharp breath at that, Dis eyes widened and she leaned more heavily against the wall, "How close did we come to losing him, Thorin?"

"I don't know, exactly," Thorin said, clamping down on the memory of the way they'd found Fili and Kili, the vampire wrapped around the still human brother, murmuring in his ear and possibly seconds away from tearing his throat out. "But it was close." Fili just looked away.

"Damn it," she grit out, trying to keep her voice steady and her breathing even.  "How bad is his hand, Oin?"

"I should be able to set most of the bones, and he'll have use of it once it heals, but it won't be as strong as it used to be," the healer answered.

"Well it's a good thing I have two hands," Fili said, almost breaking at the thought that Kili had so carelessly broken his bones.

"You should have killed him," Thorin said again, voice tense.

"Or at the very least allowed one of the others with you to do it if you couldn't do it yourself," Dis supplied, crossing her arms and leveling her son with a long look that was laced with fear for him.

"I couldn't," was all Fili managed.

"Well you're going to have to find a way to learn," Thorin growled and Fili looked down again. Kili's eyes had been too human, his expression the same one he'd given Fili countless times.

Oin glanced up at Thorin and Dis, before returning his attention to trying to set and splint the bones in Fili's hand so that it would heal as close to normal as possible.

"I can't," Fili ground out. "I just can't."

"That thing is not your brother," Dis said firmly, her eyes narrowing.

"He acts like him," Fili said. "He remembers. I know... I know it's not him but it has enough of him that... How can any of you ask me to do this?" he demanded. "How fucked up are our lives that you can look at me and tell me I should have killed what remains of my brother?"

"He would have killed you, Fili," his mother snapped.  "He very nearly did.  That's how goddamn destructive our lives are."

Fili looked down, wishing he could cover his ears again and trying to keep breathing instead of screaming.

Oin pursed his lips, "You're upsetting my patient, Dis, Thorin.  I would thank you both to leave at least until I finish treating Fili."

Looking for a moment like he was going to disagree, Thorin leveled his nephew with another long look. "You should have killed it," he said, before sweeping from the room. Dis' jaw tensed, but she followed her brother out, closing the door firmly behind her.

Moments later, it opened and closed again, Gimli slipping into the room to sit on the couch next to Fili, holding his unbroken hand. Neither had to say a thing, letting Oin work in silence.

-0-

Kili slammed the door on his way back into the vampire's mansion, actually wondering why he bothered to come back. He had no major interest in those who lived there, and actively avoided both his sire and Legolas.

Cursing, he took the winding black staircase several stairs at a time. He should have just melted into the shadows as soon as the hunters showed up, should have done a thousand things except what he did. It was bad enough that he remembered Fili so strongly when other aspects of his human life felt like they were under a gauze, but to have the new memory carved into his mind of Fili refusing to kill him made him want to claw his eyes out.

He was fairly certain if he had run into anyone else--especially Legolas--he would have continued storming past them without stopping. Except the first people he heard where Elladan and Elrohir and before he could process his actions he was veering off the staircase toward where they were.

They were in the billiard room, the most old fashioned place in the house, with wood paneling and green shaded lamps, Elladan leaning against a pool cue and smirking over at Elrohir, something sharp in his eyes. When Kili appeared in the doorway, Elladan's eyes flickered from him to Elrohir and back to the doorway to warn his brother someone else was standing there.

Elrohir had been all but draped over the table, bent at a nearly impossible angle to take his shot that seemed more for show than necessity.  He caught his brother's glance, took the shot--the ball he had been aiming for skittered in the opposite direction from where he wished it to go and the cue ball sank instead-- and straightened in one fluid motion.  He offered his brother a long-suffering look as he pulled out the cue ball and handed it over and fishing out one of the balls he had already sunk before he looked over at Kili.

"Can we help you?" Elladan asked, hand curled around the ball with another smirk directed at his brother before smoothing out his expression for Kili. "Because you look like shit."

"It's nothing," Kili protested quietly, already taking a step back.

Elrohir shook his head, motioning him in, "No, come on in.  You look like you've had a rough night."

"Have you eaten anyone tonight?" Elladan asked, leaning back against the pool cue, but not as fluidly as he had been earlier.

"Are you always that callous about it?" Kili asked, feeling oddly offended at the 'anyone' instead of 'anything.'

"We're headed into our fourth century.  You become desensitized after a while," Elrohir responded with a shrug, considering the pool table and his brother.

"It's an acknowledgement that they're not things but beings," Elladan shrugged. "So both callous and not."

Kili hesitated, considering that as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, either way, no, I didn't eat."

"It's not very smart of you," Elladan said, watching him. "Especially being so newly turned, you're going to need your strength. You only get that from one place."

Elrohir looked the younger vampire over, tilting his head to one side, "May we ask what happened that kept you from your hunt?"

Kili's shoulders tensed. "I've been meaning to ask," he said instead. "You two look almost the same. You were related before, right?"

Elladan shot a quick look at Elrohir and back to Kili. Elrohir paused for a moment, wetting his lips before responding carefully, "Ours was a rather unique case.  But we do come from the same mortal bloodline, yes."

"How close?" Kili asked, almost demanding and Elladan shifted slightly.

"You have a brother, don't you?" he asked, tone quieter than usual.

"Yes," Kili said, not bothering to lie or hedge though his eyes drifted to the side and his hand twitched to remember the feel of Fili's pulse underneath it.

Darting a wary glance at Elladan, Elrohir spoke again, "Is he why you're asking us?"

"Yes," Kili answered again, thinking it was stupid to deny it. "I saw him tonight," he added.

Elrohir sighed, hopping up to sit on the edge of the pool table, ignoring the fact that he sent a couple of the balls rolling across the felt, "Like I said, we're a unique case.  I don't recommend it."

Elladan's eyebrows twitched behind the other's back but Kili didn't notice. "Were you brothers?" he asked instead. "When you were human?"

"You're ignoring everything I've said except our natural blood relation," Elrohir muttered, his gaze darting to Elladan.

"I just want to know," Kili said, arms tightening over his chest. "Besides, why wouldn't you recommend it?"

"Because in turning someone you know, who you care about as family you take on the responsibility, the guilt, and the consequences of them entering into this life.  Humans aren't meant for the nocturnal life, and very few make the transition smoothly.  Beyond that, the first year or two has a shockingly high chance of ending with them as dust--newly turned don't often last.  There's sometimes, not always but sometimes, a new intimacy, some sort of a distortion usually, that occurs if there was a connection before death--it's the sort of bond that can destroy you entirely.  It..."  He paused, casting his mind back four hundred years as he sought for the right words, "It's excruciating.  And it's worse to give the other no choice in that matter."

Elladan crossed his arms behind Elrohir, eyes narrowing slightly as Kili blinked once between them before settling back on Elrohir. "You sound like you're speaking for experience. And that he disagrees with you," he added, inclining his head to where Elladan was behind him.

Elrohir blinked rapidly at that and turned enough to look at his brother, "I'm not saying that all cases are bad, or that it always feels like that, or hell, that I regret it.  But I had an entirely different set of memories I was working on when I went through with it than you do."  He looked back to Kili briefly at that.

"What sorts of memories?" Kili asked, though Elladan didn't look mollified.

"I didn't remember my past life," Elrohir answered, leaning back slightly on the table, so his hand was nearer Elladan.  "I didn't even remember my own name.  The only thing I did remember was Elladan.  His name, his face.  I couldn't say who he was or why I knew him but I did.  I got glimpses of memories of us in the week between my turning and his, but it was a long while before I actually remembered anything substantial."

"So you what?" Kili asked. "Showed up and turned him before you remembered who he was?"

Elrohir winced, "Sort of.  I didn't remember him entirely but I knew enough to guess who he was by then."

"Except that I remember who Fili is, and was," Kili said. "I know very well he is my brother."

"You're still young yourself," Elladan said quietly, still holding himself aloof from Elrohir. "You don't know if you'll live through the year, let alone if he will."

"And you come from an entirely different world than we did," Elrohir added, drawing his hand back and mentally cursing at how much apologizing he was probably going to have to do.

"Then what's so unique about your world?" Kili snarled, anger beating underneath his chest that they had what he suddenly felt like he wanted but were telling him he shouldn't have.

"To begin with?  We were never hunters," Elrohir replied sharply.

"What else?" Kili demanded, impetuous habits from his uncle coming to the fore.

"You demand a lot of answers," Elladan murmured, shifting to lay the pool cue down on the billiards table. "You've barely adjusted to this life, would you drag someone else in? Give it time."

"Time enough for him to die you mean?" Kili snapped and Elladan's brows just went up.

Elrohir's hand tightened around his own cue and he set it down before he snapped it, "Time enough to know if you'll survive.  You won't if you turn him."

Kili's shoulders twitched. "He'll get himself killed before that," he said, voice soft.

"No, he won't," Elrohir said honestly.  "If you turn him you'll be dust before he wakes."

"You haven't seen him," Kili protested. "He's smoking again, he's taking stupid chance and hasn't been--" he stopped, frowning. "What do you mean I'd be dead before he woke?"

"Did you somehow miss Celeborn's order to stay away from the hunters?  To do nothing to cause more trouble with them?"  Elrohir watched Kili for a reaction.

Kili's shoulders twitched back, and he hadn't moved far from the door. "No."

"It was shortly after you went back, and came down as an order to keep the line safe. He tends to protect the line with extreme prejudice and little mercy to those that cause a threat," Elrohir warned.

"Turning another hunter would be a greater threat," Elladan said, bracing his hands on the billiards table without approaching Elrohir. "We're already changing our haunts, our routes, because of you. Younger vampires outside our protection have almost been wiped out of this city, because of you."

"If that threat comes to those within our protection, I honestly doubt you would survive the night and turning your brother would bring that threat crashing down on us."

Tensing, Kili's shoulders shifted back slightly, and he suddenly didn't dare admit that he'd gotten close enough to almost turn his brother or be killed by his former uncle. He looked between the two again. "So you were brothers," he confirmed to himself. "And one of you turned the other but you don't recommend it."

"Not in your situation," Elrohir nodded very slightly.  "You've got the gist of it."

"It's still damned hypocritical," Kili snapped.

"We're vampires.  Hypocrisy is the least of our sins," came the unconcerned response from Elrohir.

Crossing his arms, Kili considered them. "What sort of bond were you talking about earlier?" he asked instead. "You said there was a distortion."

"I said there is _usually_ a distortion."  He glanced at Elladan, "Not that there was."

"What sort of distortion?" Kili pressed, Elladan's face remarkably blank as he looked back at his brother.

"I'm not sure that's actually your business," Elrohir answered.

"I'm curious myself now," Elladan said from behind him.

Elrohir tensed, shooting his brother another glance, "There's a difference in dynamic when one changes from being the younger to the elder."

Elladan almost laughed at the expression on Kili's face. "Anything else?" he asked

Elrohir's lips curled upward and he kept his gaze focused on his brother rather than Kili, "I can't think of anything else regarding us that I would call a distortion.  Though I'm sure others would level that accusation."

"Why?" Kili asked and Elladan just grinned, the expression slowly moving across his face.

Elrohir smirked, "Now _that_ is certainly not your business."

Kili's eyes flickered between them and he remembered suddenly what he had asked Fili, about desire. "Alright," he said, the first time he'd backed down from a question. "You've... you've given me much to think about."

"Good luck," Elrohir waved him off.  "Learn caution quickly, while you're at it."

Kili gave them another look before retreating again, taking the stairs more slowly now, as he only felt tired.

On the other side of the table, Elladan pushed himself back, moving to one of the few windows in the room, drawing back the heavy black curtains as it was still night outside. Elrohir sighed, taking a brief moment to close the door to the room before moving slowly up behind his brother, "Elladan."

"Yes?" he asked, voice low but he tilted his head back slightly to show he was still listening.

Stopping a half step behind him, Elrohir paused, "I've upset you."

"I would hope after four hundred years you would have learned to tell such a thing," he said with a faint laugh.

"Will you tell me what I've done?" Elrohir asked softly, loosely wrapping his arms around the other's waist and resting his chin on his shoulder to look out the window.

Letting the curtain fall after another beat, Elladan turned, nuzzling his nose up into the juncture of Elrohir's neck and shoulder. "I did not like what you said to him."

"I said rather a lot of things to him.  Which part?"  He unwrapped one of his arms so he could reach up and comb his fingers through Elladan's dark hair.

"Excruciating distortions," Elladan said, dragging his fangs along Elrohir's neck. "Regret and no choices."

"The fear of losing you in the life I'd brought you into was excruciating."  He drew a sharp breath as Elladan's fangs brushed a particularly sensitive point, "It still is. I don't regret this, and I haven't for centuries."  His eyes fluttered shut and he tilted his head to bare his neck further to Elladan.

"Why would you have lost me?" Elladan asked, drawing back slightly.

Elrohir opened his eyes again and glanced at his brother, "Any number of reasons, whether to a stake, or a mob, or to someone else early on when I still wasn't entirely sure where we stood."

"But not to your own stupidity?" Elladan asked, the edge of a smirk on his face though he still mostly looked serious.

The other paused, "There were a couple of times I worried about that, admittedly."

A slow smile curled its way across Elladan's face. "We always stood together," he said. "Even in the beginning, I'm not sure who you thought would have caught my eye."

Elrohir's lips curled upward very slightly, "I think it was reasonable of me to be jealous.  After all, you were always catching others' eyes, and what was I to do if they ever caught yours in return, Brother?"

"You caught as many eyes in that case," Elladan replied, tone a shade closer to acid than it had been. "I have, however, since then been accused of being quite the narcissist."

"Narcissism suits you, though," Elrohir replied, murmuring against Elladan's jaw.

"If I'm narcissistic, so are you," Elladan said, shifting his chin back and exposing his throat.

Working his way down his brother's throat, Elrohir chuckled, "Guilty as charged."

Rolling the line of his body against the other, Elladan let out a breathless laugh. Dragging his brother's face back up, Elladan smirked at him. "I'm serious, though. Who else could it ever have been?"

"Do you remember about fifty years after we were turned, that brown-haired spitfire who joined us for a while?" Elrohir replied, his arm tightening where it still rested around his brother's waist to pull him closer.

 "Yes," Elladan agreed. "Quite well. I generally like spitfires."

Elrohir's grip turned possessive, "Mhm, I know you do.  You always have."

Laughing again, Elladan dragged his hands down Elrohir's back. "I like you more. Significantly so."

Lips curling upward, Elrohir ducked his head to turn his attention to the dip of Elladan's collarbone, "I know you do.  That doesn't mean I don't get jealous."

A groan escaped before Elladan could stop it. "Have I managed to make you jealous lately?"

"Lately?" Elrohir smirked against his brother’s shoulder before biting lightly at his collarbone.  "Not so much lately, no."

"I might have to change that," Elladan murmured, letting his head fall backward before snapping it back up to look Elrohir in the eye. "Love me," he commanded, far more powerfully than Kili's almost childish impetuousness. He spoke as one who expected to be obeyed, not one who just hoped he would be.

"Always," Elrohir replied before capturing Elladan's lips and pulling his brother with him as he backed up until he hit the pool table.

Digging his fingers into Elrohir's hips, Elladan forced his mouth open, dragging the tip of his fangs along his tongue. "I miss your long hair," he murmured, drawing back slightly. "It's really too bad it's no longer fashionable."

Elrohir let out a discontent noise when he drew back, "Fashions come and go, I'm sure it'll be around again. After all, I got away with it in the 1970s again."  He ran his hands up under Elladan's shirt, "I miss the layers that used to be so fashionable.  They got in the way but God, undressing you was a pleasure in and of itself."

Elladan laughed, flopping back against the table and spreading his arms. "Like unwrapping a particularly overdone present?" he smirked up. "All the brocade and laces and barely revealing an ounce of skin for each layer?"

"It was such a lovely drawn out tease," Elrohir agreed, pressing himself against Elladan, his lips curling into a smirk.  "Each glimpse of skin was one more place that I could trail my fingers over until you were cursing at me to just damn well rip the rest of it."

"I lost so many lovely clothes that way," Elladan sighed, sounding like he mourned them. "When you bothered to grant my request of course."

"It was so much more fun not to grant that request that I think we saved more than we ruined," Elrohir replied, leaning up to let his fangs ghost over where Elladan's pulse point would have been.

"I would happily have killed you some of those nights if I could have moved," Elladan growled.

Elrohir chuckled, "Why do you think I did my best to make sure you couldn't?"

Elladan laughed again, tossing his head back and dragging his hands down to the bottom of Elrohir's shirt, jerking it over his head and having more difficulty pulling it over his arms. Elrohir pulled back enough to assist with that and was quick to divest his brother of his own shirt, tossing it to the side, "I wonder if we could have an accurate replica tailored for you."

"I'm sure we could find one," Elladan smirked. "You'd have to get me back into it, knowing how long you'd keep me on the edge of actual pleasure though."

"Ah, but you know the payoff in the end is worth all that," Elrohir replied with a grin.

Unable to help himself, Elladan made a high pitched keening sound, fingers dancing across Elrohir's shoulder blades. "Yes, yes it was."

"So it wouldn't be so much of a fight to get you into it after all, would it?"  Elrohir purred, scraping his fingernails down Elladan's sides with just enough force to leave faint, quickly fading, marks.

Lifting one of his legs to press against Elrohir's side, Elladan laughed, digging his shoulders back against the billiard table. "Get my pants off and I might consider it."

Elrohir smirked, tracing his fingers over the waistband of his brother's pants.  He arched a sharp eyebrow, "Consider?"

"You have to find the clothes first," Elladan said, trying to push his hips up and closer to the other. "Unless you saved some."

"I would have to check, I think those may have been donated or discarded or something back in the Jazz Age," Elrohir admitted.

Elladan grinned. "I miss the jazz age," he mused, running fingers through Elrohir's dark hair, cut short now compared to the long locks he'd once worn. "All that music, all that alcohol that made people stupid."

Elrohir's smile was predatory, "And the gang warfare that covered our actions up."

"That was lovely," Elladan agreed. "So much blood in the streets, all the time. We could walk through a speakeasy like window shopping. But enough about the past," he said, yanking Elrohir's head down, fingers pressing into his hair. "I think I told you to fuck me."

Elrohir laughed, finally slipping the other's pants off, "Oh, was that what you were telling me to do?"

"If I didn't before, I certainly am now," Elladan growled, rolling his hips up again to emphasize.

Ghosting his fingers over his brother's chest, Elrohir leaned down pressing a harsh kiss to Elladan's lips and drawing back just enough to speak, "You're always in such a rush."

"Then hurry up and catch up with me," he said and grinned when his brother finally complied.

-0-

A while later, Fili stepped into the kitchen, still looking oddly surprised that Bofur was still there even though he'd said he likely would be. Ducking his head down slightly, he moved over to the fridge, trying to find anything in the world that he felt he could eat without being sick.

Bofur looked up when Fili entered, his hands curled around a cup of coffee, "What did Oin say about your hand?"

"It'll heal," he replied, not quite turning around. "It will never be the same that it was, but it'll heal."

Pausing for a long moment as he considered the events of the evening, Bofur sighed very slightly and decided that none of his questions about Kili were a good choice, "I'm sorry that all happened."

Fili froze, closing the fridge door when he realized there was nothing that he wanted. "Is there still coffee?" he asked instead.

Bofur waved toward the coffee pot, "I just finished brewing some there."

Moving over and pouring himself a cup, Fili didn't look back over his shoulder. "So you're not going to tell me I should have killed him too, then?

"You've heard that from your mother and uncle both by now, I'm sure," Bofur said. "And the argument that it's not the person you knew only works so far when they're right in front of you."

"You and Thorin both hesitated too," he said, finally turning around and leaning back against the counter. He almost brought both hands up to cradle the cup against his chest and stopped with a grimace.

"We did," Bofur agreed, dropping his gaze to his own cup. "It looked like Kili and sounded like him."

"And yet it is my fault," Fili said, anger in his voice. "That I could not kill him in time."

Bofur frowned and looked up at him, "It's not though. You hesitated, but...he was your _brother_."

"Then why," he started and cut off with an angry shake of his head. "Thorin hesitated and mother believes I should have too but _she wasn't there_. I don't know what I was supposed to have done that," he trailed off abruptly, looking down at his hand.

"It," Bofur paused for a long moment, tracing a finger around the lip of his cup before speaking again, "It was terrifying to see you at his mercy to know that all he had to do was press down and you would be bit. Your, your uncle and mother don't deal very well with that from what I've seen. I know that doesn't justify their expectations, but..." he shook his head.

"Cover up their fear by yelling," Fili sighed. "Actually, that sounds a lot like them." His hand twitched to cover the space on his neck that Kili had touched earlier that night and he took a deep swallow of coffee instead. "Even if he had bitten me, though, he would not have had the time to kill me. Not then."

"And that's something that logically we know, but in the moment with his fangs at your pulse point?" Bofur kept his gaze focused on his cup, hand tightening around it.

Swallowing, Fili looked down and away again. "Why would it bother you so much? We don't talk much, we never have, and suddenly every time I turn around you're there. I punched you in the face and the next time you were cleaning my wounds. I don't get it."

Bofur glanced up at him and then down again quickly, feeling something knot in his gut as he tried to figure out a way to answer that, "Because you're important to me."  It was far less than he wanted to say, but far more than he had expected to be able to.

Fili frowned at him. "What? When did that happen?"

"I don't know. There wasn't a specific point when it started."

"Was that before or after you left Kili to them?" Fili asked and then shook his head. "No, that wasn't quite right... I can't blame you for protecting Gloin anymore but I still can't like it."

Bofur flinched, his fingers twitching slightly and his voice quiet, "Before."

"So whatever this is at least it is not guilt," Fili mused.

"No," Bofur shook his head, considering the merits of just getting up and leaving, "it's not guilt."

"Good," Fili said softly.

Rubbing a hand over the back of his neck, Bofur glanced at Fili again, "Is it?"

"Sometimes it feels like the only people who like me do so because they are obligated," Fili said, tilting his chin back slightly. "So it's better if you insist on something I don't understand you're not doing it out of guilt."

That garnered a blink before the other shook his head very slightly, as much to his own thoughts as Fili, "I can promise it's not guilt."

"I'm sorry, I don't think I'm quite fit for company," Fili said, setting the mostly full cup of coffee on the counter. "I should just..."

"You don't have to go," Bofur said. "I mean, if you want to you can, but I'm not what most people consider 'company' so you..." He glanced toward Fili again, "So you don't have to unless you actually want to. And if you think you'll be alright on your own."

Fili hesitated again. "That implies that I'm ever alright on my own anymore."

Bofur paused at that, moving to wash his cup and reaching for Fili's, "Do you need to talk?"

"About what?" he asked, looking over. "I don't sleep, my brother's gone and I have bruises all up and down my back and shoulders and a broken hand. I might not be ambidextrous anymore, with this hand."

"Right, stupid question," Bofur sighed very quietly. "You just, you came face to face with him tonight and it's..." He shook his head, "Never mind."

"You might as well say what you're thinking," Fili said.

"It's one thing to know he's turned. Another to see him from a distance. And another to see him in front of you or feel his fangs at your throat. I just, you're not going to be reckless with yourself again after this are you?" Bofur glanced at him, a hint of worry in his brown eyes.

Fili actually paused and seemed to consider for a long moment. "No," he said finally. "I won't try anything stupid. I'm too goddamn tired."

The brunet nodded very slightly, "Are you going to be able to get any rest tonight?"

"No," He said and shrugged. "My ceiling and I have become good friends, we're very familiar with each other at this point.

"Is there anything that might help that?" Bofur asked, having a feeling he knew the answer.

"Like what?" Fili asked, tilting his head. "Pills or violence? Violence clearly didn't work."

"It rarely does," Bofur muttered.

"Then what would you suggest?" Fili asked. "Or is there anything?"

Bofur considered that question for a long moment before shaking his head, "I don't know."

"No suggestions at all?" Fili asked, looking over at him with a wry, bitter smile.

"I kept going until I made myself sick from exhaustion. So no, there's not really a suggestion on this front."

Fili seemed to consider him a long moment. "Are you in danger of doing that to yourself now?"

Bofur thought about it for a long moment, but shook his head, "No, I don't think so."

"Good," Fili said. "Only one of us should be that far out at a time." He paused, looking down at his hand. "I figure I won't be going out much the next few weeks. It's probably for the best."

"Probably. If, if you need anything let me know?"

"Sure," Fili said, not quite looking at him but sounding more honest than he had in a long time.

Bofur glanced at him again, rubbing the back of his neck and drawing a deep breath but fell silent. Turning his head slightly at the breath, Fili waited a long moment, not pushing the other to continue but waiting for him to say whatever he was thinking. Shaking his head, Bofur pushed away from the counter, "I just wish there was more I could do."

"It's not really one of those situations though," Fili said quietly. "Where there's some shining knight or fairy that grants wishes and everything becomes easy."

Bofur snorted, "No, it's not. But it's also not one of those things you have to go through on your own."  

"Doesn't grief make us all alone?" Fili asked, looking at the distance between them and wondering if it was planned or not, how carefully distant Bofur was holding himself.  

"It can, but there are people to come alongside you and help if you let them," Bofur replied, wrapping an arm around to hold onto his other elbow.

"I would hardly stop you," Fili said.

"But would you actually ask for it if you need it?"

"No," Fili said and offered him a faint smile. "But you seem to recognize when I might need it."

Bofur returned the smile with a slight one of his own, "Fair enough."

"Good night, Bofur," Fili said, pushing away from the counter.

"Good night, Fili," he murmured in response, watching the other go and waiting for a few minutes before he shut out the light and headed up to his own room.

Before he could reach it, Thorin appeared at his elbow, having seen Fili leave the kitchen and waiting a few more moments before seeking out Bofur. "A word, if you would."

Bofur startled slightly but nodded, "Of, of course, Thorin."

Moving away so they were not on the stairs, Thorin paused for an awkward moment, hands crossed over his chest. "I am worried about Fili," he said, though his worry came out more in anger some days.

Bofur paused at that, pushing open his door, "Come in?"

Thorin nodded, stepping inside and unable to keep from glancing around. He often tried not to step into other people's rooms.  The room was sparsely furnished, a bed that looked like it was rarely used was pushed back against one wall, a couch, coffee table, and end table with a lamp the only other furniture. Bofur turned to Thorin, "What exactly are you worried about and why come to me?"

Thorin didn't mention he'd been listening to some of the conversation in the kitchen. "Because he's not taking care of himself and now he's injured. I want someone around him, more often than not. You're not technically family so he can't just brush you off, and you seem to care."

Bofur crossed his arms, the action looking a bit defensive, "What are you asking?"

"That you keep an eye on him," Thorin said. "Just make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

The other man fell silent for a long moment, "I can promise to look out for him, but you've got high expectations if you think I can do anything more than that."

"What else do you think I'm asking you to do?" Thorin asked. "Influence him? Don't you think I've been trying to do that my entire life."

"Making sure he doesn't do anything stupid seems a high request at this point in time," Bofur replied.

"You're allowed to punch him if it would stop him," Thorin offered.

Bofur frowned, "I'll watch his back. Is there anything else?"

"No," Thorin shook his head. "Thank you. Have a good night."

"Good night," Bofur murmured as he watched Thorin leave and locked the door behind him, sinking down onto his couch with a heavy sigh.

In his own room, Fili sat on the edge of his bed, feeling out the contours of the bruises Kili had left on him with his right hand. His left hand lay in his lap, swaddled with bandages and he hissed out a breath, wondering how he could possibly lay down to sleep. Let alone the demons that would keep him awake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brought to you by characters shipping themselves without letting the authors in on this fact until they were rereading the last update. 
> 
> Also, a huge thank you to everyone who's left any feedback on this story, it's meant a lot to us!


	5. Wasn't Much of an Answer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonus points for everyone who catches Tolkien mythology references. (Also, I dare you to guess what Gandalf is)

Elladan was walking through the bottom floor of the mansion, considering the papers he was taking up to Celeborn to review when the door slammed open, letting a way of sunlight in. Jumping back almost all the way to the stairs, he let out a snarling hiss, prepared to fight whoever was in the doorway if only they would remove themselves from the sunlight.

The man in question glanced around, a grey scarf around his neck and a long beard down his chest. It looked distinctly like it came from the wrong century. "Ah, there you are," he said, looking at Elladan whose eyes narrowed. "Say, could you fetch your grandsires for me?"

"Great grandsires, if one wants to be specific," Elladan said about the moment Galadriel appeared on the top of the stairs.

"Old friend," she said, looking down. "You should close the door."

Celeborn appeared a step behind his wife, arching an eyebrow at the man in their foyer, "That is rather a lot of sunlight you bring with you, Mithrandir."  He looked toward Elladan and held out a hand for the papers.

Mutely, Elladan handed then over as Gandalf, also called Mithrandir long ago, laughed and closed the door. "Yes, of course, how silly of me."

Celeborn nodded to Elladan, offering a muted thanks and dismissal as he turned his attention back to Gandalf, "Whatever brings you here at this hour of the day?"

"Terrible news," Gandalf said, nodding firmly to himself, and Galadriel crossed her arms over her white blouse.

"But of course. What calamity is befalling the world today?"

"And why have you come to us about it this time?" Celeborn glanced at Gandalf before turning his attention mostly to the papers, skimming through them.

"Because Smaug is attempting to end the world," Gandalf said and Elladan tensed, looking between Galadriel and Celeborn and Gandalf.

"Is something like that possible?" he asked, shock in the line of his shoulders and less obvious in his grand sires.

"It's been tried before," Celeborn answered, looking up from the papers in his hands.  "Can he do it, is the real question here."

Gandalf started up the stairs to meet them. "Come, let us speak in my office," Galadriel said, gesturing with one graceful arm.

Celeborn withdrew a few of the pages and handed them to Elladan, "See that Elrond gets these."

"Alright," Elladan said, but trailed after the group anyway.

Celeborn arched an eyebrow at the younger vampire, closing the door behind himself, Gandalf and Galadriel as soon as they had entered the office, "Now, Gandalf, how serious is this threat and why have you come to us, old friend?"

Cursing the closed door, Elladan turned on his feel and stomped off to find Elrond.

Inside the office, Gandalf sighed, stretching out his old bones. "It's serious. It's not Sauron trying to find his way back into the world, or the older evils that he once served. But Smaug is an old enough evil on his own. He used to be known as Smaug the Terrible you know, and is extremely fond of metals and fire. Last time he saw the world was during the time of the Spanish Conquistadors."

"And we remember how well that went," Celeborn murmured.  "Can he actually manage what he's setting out to do?"

"Yes, if no one opposes him," Gandalf said, finally remembering that Celeborn refused all but straight answers. "He has the power, and frankly there are enough smaller demons coming across the borders to herald his arrival that are problematic,” he said, making the effort to be precise.

Setting the papers down and crossing his arms to consider the immortal before him, "And what purpose does coming here serve for you?"

Gandalf blinked and Galadriel sighed at the expression in his eyes. "Because I'll need your help of course. Unless you'd like to lose the world from underneath your feet."

"What are you proposing needs to be done, Gandalf, and how are you proposing to do it?" Celeborn asked with a sigh.

"We aren't going to like it, are we?" Galadriel added, arching a careful brow.

"You allied with the hunters in the past," Gandalf replied. "When Sauron came, when Glaurung roamed the lands. It is one of those times again. Smaug would burn the world to see it destroyed but as you'll notice, vampires are never the ones trying to end the world because you like it too much."

Celeborn tensed, his hands clenching convulsively, "That was many many years ago.  Much has changed since then."

"Would you rather give up the world then, and all those lovely humans for you to eat?" Gandalf snapped and Galadriel laid a hand on Celeborn's arm. His gaze darted to his wife and he kept his response to himself, though he didn't relax in the slightest as his temper rose.

She didn’t remove her hand. "We would be willing, as we ever have in times of need, to do what must be done. The hunters would not be so easily convinced. You came upon us at a... difficult time."

Celeborn laid a hand over hers as he finally felt his temper recede again, "You've been gone for some time, Gandalf. The hunters are unlikely to work with us in any way which would keep our line on this earth."

"It's their world too," Gandalf said and looked between them. "What did you do to them then?"

" _We_ did nothing.  A distant line cousin has caused trouble," Celeborn replied, his tone clipped and his lips drawn tight.  "One of their number walks under the moon's light now."

Gandalf blinked once and let out a long breath. "Well, you'll all just have to get over that then. This is bigger than your personal problems with each other."

Celeborn drew away from his wife's touch, crossing the office before turning back, unable to keep still, "And you overestimate their willingness to ally with us, I think."

"But you will work with them?" he asked. "If they agree?"

Celeborn's jaw tensed and he looked to his wife. She nodded once. "If the threat is great and if we may help, we shall. But I will not put my family in danger from those that must be our allies. Certain assurances must be made."

"And those assurances must come directly from them, I’ll not be taking your word on something this volatile, Gandalf.  Not this time," Celeborn spoke quietly, but firmly.

"Of course not," Gandalf agreed, sighing. "I'll see what I can do. Everything I've looked into says that he will come through here in fire and flame, but others will come before him. We have some time left, but not much."

"Gain us the assurances and we will ally with the hunters," Celeborn said, his gaze flicking to his wife again.

She nodded again and Gandalf sighed, pushing himself to his feet and muttering something about old bones. "Very well. I shall do what I do best and get those assurances. This is too important for anything else."

"We shall await your word,” Celeborn said.

"Good," Gandalf said with a nod, hitching his scarf up. "I shall return when I have it."

Celeborn nodded very slightly, "Good."  He picked up the papers again, calming his mind enough to consider the contents again.

Gandalf happily showed himself out and Galadriel stepped forward, leaning her chin on Celeborn's shoulder. "Relax," she murmured.

He reached up to brush a hand over her hair, speaking lowly, "We're caught, my love.  If the hunters do not ally with us and it is as bad as Mithrandir indicates I do not think our line will outlast the earth.  If they do ally with us, yet give us no assurances or weak ones we risk ending as dust on their stakes."

"Yes," she agreed. "Once again Mithrandir appears when there is danger. But we have survived before and we will fight now."

"Just once I would appreciate that man dropping by with _good_ news," he murmured.

“He would not know how," Galdadriel said with a faint smile.

Celeborn's lips turned upward very slightly at that, "No, I suppose he would not. It would be a nice and surprising change, though."'

She laughed, the sound low and soft. "Yes, a change indeed, but unlikely. It would probably kill you if it ever did occur. But we have weathered these storms before. We should tell the other's."

He nodded, smiling and shaking his head, "Elladan was displeased with being closed out of the initial discussion.  We'll gather everyone and inform them of what's happening and make sure they understand that we are staying away from the hunters.  Entirely until we have an answer about this."

"Yes," she agreed. "We must move carefully through the shadows now."

He turned to face her, resting his hand against her cheek for a brief moment, speaking mostly to convince himself, "We have done it before and we shall again.  It will work."

"Of course it will," she said, mirroring his gesture. "Come." He brushed his lips against her temple before drawing back and twining his hand with hers to head toward the door.

-0-

Gimli frowned down at his phone. The missed call that he didn't recognize had been bothering him for several days but he hadn't had the time to call them back. Finally he hit the redial button, holding the phone to his ear from where he was standing in the backyard under the sunlight.

Sprawled out in bed, from where he'd ended up shortly after the meeting with Galadriel and Celeborn, Elladan plucked his phone up. He briefly glanced at the number before hitting answer. "Vampire mansion speaking," he said cheerily.

"Holy shit," Gimli managed.

Elrohir looked up from where he had followed Elladan and curled himself next to his brother, an arm draped over the other's back, "Speaker, brother."

"Of course, how silly of me," Elladan said, putting the phone on speaker and leaving it on the pillow between them.

Realizing there were two voices that sounded the same, Gimli tensed again. "How did you get this number?" he demanded instead of just hanging up.

Elrohir paused, smirking, "You must be Gimli, then."

"Yes," he agreed. "Now how did you get this number?"

"Stole it from Legolas," Elladan said, voice lazy as he lay on his stomach, arms folded beneath his chin. "Decided he shouldn't be left alone with a number."

Elrohir sat up and started massaging his brother's shoulders and back, "After all, we're not supposed to be near you lot and here he is walking around with your phone number in his pocket."

"It was hugely problematic," Elladan added and Gimli just blinked, unsure how he felt about this conversation so far.

"So he... doesn't have my number anymore?" he asked, a shade warily and only hoping that meant he wouldn't take that as an invitation to kidnap him again. Bifur had been near panic by the time Gimli caught back up to them, and Nori had almost throttled him in a mix of relief and anger.

"We thought it best he not," Elrohir replied, almost dismissively.

"Why not?" Gimli asked. Even if he agreed the idea, the thought of other’s ordering Legolas to avoid him made him bristle in anger.

"Because we would rather he not be turned to dust," came the answer from Elrohir, still in the same uncaring tone.

"I'm not going to dust him," Gimli protested and was actually surprised to realize he meant it.

"It's not you we're worried about," Elladan said, shooting a raised brow at Elrohir.

Elrohir was blinking at the phone in disbelief at that admission but spoke again, "There are some pretty strict rules around here right now regarding you lot and the first one is not to go near you."

"Oh," Gimli said and paused. "You lot have rules?"

"Not a lot," he leaned down and nuzzled against the back of his brother's neck, smirking against the skin there.

Elladan meanwhile was laughing into the pillow, trying not to be too obvious across the line, even as he tilted his back up against Elrohir. "What sorts of rules?" Gimli found himself asking before he could think about it.

"Don't kill hunters, usually," Elladan said, fighting his laugh down.

"So you really failed on that front, didn't you?" Gimli snapped and paused. "Wait, but why...?"

"It's like why criminals usually don't kill cops," Elladan said. "It brings the full fury of the police force down on their heads. We generally just try to avoid you."

"It's always easier for all concerned if hunters and hunted just generally avoid each other," Elrohir agreed, running his fingernails down Elladan's back over his shirt.

"Avoiding you sorta defeats the entire purpose of like, our lives, you realize that right?" Gimli asked and seriously wondered why he was still on the phone. Except that Legolas no longer had his number and he found himself fascinated to hear what the other side thought. It was like looking through a dark mirror.

"Which is why we do the avoiding," Elrohir spoke simply, glancing his teeth off of the nape of Elladan's neck.

Shivering, Elladan batted him off slightly and ineffectively. "It's a survival instinct."

Gimli just shook his head. "Alright, so now you have my number but Legolas does not. Okay."

"We're not likely to use your number, after all we've no interest in you," Elrohir said, catching Elladan's hand and tracing his fingers.

"You sound like you wanted Legolas to have your number," Elladan said, shifting and biting the bottom of his lip, watching Elrohir.

"That's not," Gimli started and huffed out a breath. "I gave it to him, didn't I?" he asked and realized this conversation had gone on too long, snapping his phone shut to end the call.

Elrohir tipped his head back and laughed as the call disconnected, getting entirely distracted from what he had been doing, "Hellfire and damn my eyes, isn't that a terrifying thought."

"That he gave him the number?" Elladan asked. "Or that he sounds actually interested?"

"Both," his brother responded, shaking his head.

"This may be more complicated than I thought," Elladan said, turning around underneath his brother to lie on his back, tilting his chin back. "Though... I wonder if it might not be beneficial."

"Beneficial?" Elrohir arched an eyebrow, recapturing Elladan's hand and considering his long fingers.

"Remember what Celeborn and Galadriel were saying?" he said. "If we must ally with them, they will need a voice willing to ally with us, and if he is as... fascinated as he sounds, he might become that voice. Or," he added. "He will get Legolas staked."

"But the question is, how do we keep him fascinated without getting Legolas staked in the process?" he traced the soft skin between his brother's fingers lightly.

"Well, that is what we'd have to figure out," Elladan said. "We might even consider giving Legolas back his number."

"He'll figure it's some sort of a trick."

"In some ways it is," Elladan shrugged.

-0-

Bilbo was perched in a back corner of the library, reshelving some books and nearly fell when he heard a name he hadn't heard in many a long year. He slammed the books in his hand back down on the cart and strode toward the main desk, "Gandalf. Of course it's you. What are you thinking calling me that here?"

"It's your name, isn't it?" Gandalf said, leaning against the desk easily. "Your real one, I mean."

"Which might explain exactly why I don't want it called out in public," the librarian grit out, turning his attention to what he could do at the desk. "What do you want?"

"I need someone to convince the hunters to ally with the vampire family living in this city," Gandalf said, flicking the end of his scarf. "There's a demon coming who wants to end the world, the usual story. And don’t worry, no one else can actually hear what we’re saying."

Bilbo blinked at him for a long moment, "Why do I think I'm that someone?"

"Because of all the people who have ever met him, it appears you're the only one who likes Thorin," Gandalf said, leaning over the desk to pluck out the books that Bilbo generally set aside for Thorin. "And because you owe me."

"Do you remember the part where I physically _cannot_ lie?" Bilbo frowned at him.

"I have complete faith that you are capable of the task," Gandalf said. "Otherwise I would not be here. Lying or not, I'm sure you'll think of plenty of things to say."

"Next question, do you know what's happened between the vampires and the hunters?"

"They did mention that to me," Gandalf nodded. "The issue of Thorin's nephew I believe?"

"His youngest yes," Bilbo nodded. "Thorin won't do it."

"Someone has to convince him he has to," Gandalf said, eyes turning serious. "Because the world is at stake, Bilbo. Their petty squabbles do not mean much anymore."

"You haven't met Thorin, have you, Gandalf?" Bilbo responded, frowning. "I don't know why you think I'm going to be able to do this. I'm hardly persuasive."

"I'm sure you're underestimating yourself," Gandalf said, waving a hand. "Just get talking to him, and convince him that the only chance we have is together. The influx of demons should help convince him if nothing else."

Bilbo paused in his work to gape at the other, "Have you met Thorin?" he repeated the question, even though the answer was so obvious.

"Does that matter in the face of the apocalypse?" Gandalf asked, cocking his head slightly to one side.

"It might just." Bilbo paused, considering for a long moment, "I'll do it, but I have a condition."

"Alright, what?" Gandalf asked, looking around the mostly empty library and waving at a particularly offended looking patron who turned away, muttering something about old hippies.

"You're chasing off my patrons," Bilbo muttered. "I do this and you give up all rights to my true name. You lose control of me and we are even, agreed?"

Gandalf paused for a long moment, appreciating having the name of a fay before he nodded. "Agreed," he said, willing to sacrifice in the name of the world. "I'll give up your name and we'll be declared totally even."

The faerie nodded once, "Then I'll do it. How long do I have?"

"I'm not sure," Gandalf shrugged. "A couple months, probably. If we're lucky."

Bilbo sighed, "Of course." He looked toward the books, "Do you want any of those?"

Gandalf laughed. "Such books are child's play compared to what I know. But thank you non-the-less."

"Then good day to you, Gandalf."  Hearing the clear dismissal, Gandalf almost argued it before he shrugged and turned, offering a particularly large grin at the first person who seemed to step out of his way.

Bilbo rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out how he was even supposed to approach Thorin in such a way that he would have the chance to eventually bring up the dangers.

-0-

Sitting near the window, though the heavy curtains were down as dusk fell, Kili stared at the drapes like he could see through them. Since the twin's warnings about approaching the hunters he'd been more careful, and yet every night he found himself followed Fili. At first he'd thought the other hadn't noticed but now he wasn't so sure. He just wished it was already dusk so he could go.

Legolas paused in the doorway to the room, grimacing before clearing his expression and tapping on the door frame.

“What are you doing here?” Kili asked, not moving.

"Came to see how you're settling in," he half-lied.

Slowly, Kili arched a brow to show how much he believed that. Turning his back to the window, he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. "Really?"

Legolas mirrored his stance, "Well, that was what I was going to lead with at least."

"So what do you really want?" he asked, frown between his eyebrows.

Legolas looked him over, "How much do you remember of your last life?"

"Depends," Kili shrugged. "I remember faces, emotions, things like that. I've been getting more stuff back."

"Do you remember Gimli's number yet?"

"His," Kili blinked once in clear surprise. "No, I don't remember his number. I remember his hair if that helps."

Legolas grimaced, "No, that much I know."

"Why do you possibly want his number?" Kili asked, trying to pull up anything he remembered about him.  They had been friends, he was sure, though the concept felt odd now. He could remember Gimli’s laugh, the way he moved when he marveled at something. But he couldn’t remember the color of his eyes or the cadence of his voice.

The blond rolled a shoulder in a half shrug, "He fascinates me."

"Fascinates," Kili repeated, testing the idea out. "I hadn't realized anything in this world was capable of fascinating you."

"You don't know me, so that's not unexpected," Legolas replied with a charming smile.

"I think I know enough of you to last anyone," Kili muttered, eyes narrowed as the charming smile had no effect.

Legolas rolled his eyes, "Right, of course, my mistake. Well, as you've nothing of use I suppose I'd best be on my way."

Kili just shook his head, fairly convinced that everyone in the mansion was some form of manipulative bastard. "Yeah, okay."

Legolas turned to go and nearly collided with Elrohir. The twin arched an eyebrow, "Trying to get the phone number from another source?"

"I wouldn't have to if you hadn't burned it."

"Which is why you'll be so thrilled to hear we decided to give it back to you," Elladan said, hot on Elorhir's heels. Still by the wall, Kili's brow went up at all of them.

Legolas' eyes narrowed suspiciously at that, "That's rather unexpectedly kind of you."

"Hm," Elladan hummed, chin resting on Elrohir's shoulder. "You could just thank us."

"I want to know why," Legolas responded with a frown.

"We could just erase the number if you would rather," Elrohir remarked, reaching up to trace a finger over his brother's ear.

Kili's shoulders twitched and he leaned harder against the wall at how much the twins touched. Laughing, Elladan shifted his head slightly closer, running a hand through his brother’s hair. "It wouldn't be hard. He called back though, that unknown number on his phone."

Legolas' eyes widened slightly, "Why are you doing this?"

Elrohir just looked at him, "Are you really going to question us about this?"

The blond scowled at him, but finally shook his head, "No, but I'd like an explanation eventually."

"Just accept the gift," Elladan said, shaking his head slightly.

Legolas grimaced and nodded, "Alright."

"And good manners dictate that you say....?" Elrohir smirked as Legolas clenched his teeth.

"Thank you, Elladan and Elrohir, it's very kind of you to let me have the number which I was given back."

"Yes, well, circumstances change," Elladan said, handing over a sheet of paper where he'd written the number down in his old fashioned handwriting. "You should appreciate that we're looking out for you."

Legolas accepted the paper with a thin smile, "I do appreciate it, deeply."

Elrohir rolled his eyes, "Do you have any setting that isn't bitching or sarcasm?"

"Not around you," Legolas replied easily.

"You might want to work on having another setting around him, if that's the case," Elladan said with an easy smile and Kili still couldn't pinpoint why this conversation was bothering him so much.

"It helps that he's not _you_ ," Legolas said with a shrug.

"Yes, I could see how that would be the case," Elladan said with a straight face. "it must be so pester some to have known us for so long."

"You have no idea," Legolas agreed.

"And it must truly be awful for you that we're older," Elladan added, smirking.

Legolas  offered him a scathing look, "Yet somehow I survive it.  If you'll excuse me?"

"You just don't really go in for the grateful thing do you?" Elladan asked, shifting around slightly so he would be more out of Legolas' way.

I believe I already thanked you," he responded, stepping past them.

"Begrudgingly," Elrohir allowed, moving with Elladan.  Legolas ignored him and swept off down the hall.

"Being grateful is a state of mind, not a moment," Elladan added.

"He's never going to learn that," Elrohir remarked with a shrug.

"Think we could beat it into Kili before he gets too old?" Elladan asked, glancing over and Kili jumped.

Elrohir chuckled, looking toward Kili, "I think he comes from a more grateful background, and hasn't let Thranduil influence him overly much yet.  So it's always possible."

Kili's eyes narrowed slightly and Elladan laughed. "Still, you've got to catch them early for things like that, as poor Legolas here shows." Scowling, Kili pushed off from the wall and stormed past them, Elladan turning his head to follow his path. "That may not have worked."

Elrohir laughed, turning to face his brother, "Was it supposed to?"

"Not terribly," his brother shrugged, a graceful movement of his muscles.

"Think Legolas is going to be able to keep out of more trouble?"

"No," Elladan laughed. "You're joking right? The question is if he'll manage to figure out the right kind of trouble to end up in."

Elrohir smirked, shaking his head, "Here's hoping he manages that at least."

-0-

Legolas, meanwhile, had closed himself in a room in a section of the mansion that rarely saw use and withdrew his phone, dialing the number he had regained

For a long moment it hovered on the edge of going to voicemail, as Gimli swiped the phone back from Ori, who was asking about the unknown number. "That's not your--yes, hello?" Gimli asked, glad Ori hadn't gotten around to answering it and just hoping for some reason it wasn't the twins again.

"Gimli?" Legolas hoped that the twins hadn't lied to him and given him a wrong number.  He might just have to kill them if that was the case.

"Yeah who...?" he started and paused, thinking the cadence of the voice sounded right. "Got the number back did you?" he asked and narrowed his eyes at Ori. "Shouldn't you be, I don't know, cooking dinner or whatever you keep yourself busy with?"

"Yes, evidently I did," the vampire responded, ignoring the second question.  "I'm still not entirely certain why but I'm hardly going to question it."

"I've just decided to never understand any of you," Gimli said, having shut the door to the main house and taken up his position by the tree again. Ori had laughed at him the entire way.

That earned a dry chuckle, "Probably a wise decision."

"But not a particularly fair one," Gimli protested.

Legolas paused at that, "Not fair to whom?"

"To me, you dimwit," he said, shaking his head though the other could not see him. "Who else?"

"Do you want to understand us?" he sounded surprised by that possibility.

"It would make life a whole lot easier," Gimli protested. "To have some idea of what's going on through your heads."

"What goes through our heads isn't all that vastly different than what goes through yours.  We just tend not to be affected by things like consciences."

Gimli snorted. "Yeah, but that sure changes a lot you know, to not be affected by what your actions do to other people."

"It can," Legolas admitted.  "But in general our thought processes aren't all that vastly different from yours. We may not have consciences, but we have our own moral rules."

Trying to bite back a laugh, Gimli shook his head. "What, don't eat each other's food?"

"More what sort we will or will not bite," Legolas corrected.

Gimli leaned his head back, looking up at the pine needles of the tree above him. "Yeah?"

"Elladan refuses to go after siblings, for instance," the vampire said, perching himself in a comfortable chair.

"So it's a personal moral code, not a species or societal one," Gimli asked. "Why wouldn't he go after siblings and why the plural?"

Legolas grimaced and sighed, "the plural is because he almost always goes hunting with Elrohir.  Who was his brother in life.  Who was turned a week or so before him which I would guess contributes to that."

Gimli stopped, the bottom of his stomach dropping out when he thought about Fili. "Is that normal? Siblings to be turned together?"

"No," Legolas answered quickly.  "It's not normal.  Nothing about them is normal.  Usually it's discouraged--at least that soon--in part due to our initially incomplete memories.  Apparently no one told Elrohir that. And it was centuries ago, so who knows if that rarity is a more recent thing."

Gimli paused, not sure he wanted to ask the next question. "How old are you then, if they're centuries old?"

Legolas thought back, doing a quick calculation, "Less than 200 but more than 150 years.  I don't have the exact dates, though I'm sure there's some grave marker somewhere."

Gimli muttered something under his breath in shock. "That's... that's pretty old," he managed. "I mean, in comparison. To what I know. Two hundred years old?"

"Not quite, but within the next while I will be," Legolas said, quietly, the thought of the difference between mortal life spans and his own making him a bit more subdued.

"I'm trying to wrap my mind around all that time," Gimli said, glad for the solidness of the tree behind him. "To see that much, to do that much. Do you ever get bored?"

He leaned his head back against the back of the chair, trying to figure out how to answer that question, "I do sometimes, yes.  I, well I don't always connect with the line very well which leads to greater boredom."

"The line is the other vampires you're with?" Gimli asked. "Like... like Kili?"

"The line is Galadriel and Celeborn's line.  My sire and his line reside with them, but we're a different line," Legolas clarified.  "Kili is in the same line as I am."

"So family groups, basically," Gimli clarified.

"In essence.  Some are less familial than others."

"What about your line?" Gimli asked, fairly certain he shouldn't ask so many questions.

Legolas paused for a long moment, frowning at the ceiling, "We're...less close than Galadriel's line.  My sire's affections seems, unpredictable sometimes.  I'm not sure he doesn't get bored with his line much like one would with anything after time passes."

Gimil paused. "Who turned Kili?" he asked, wanting to know but he wasn't sure why. Part of him suspected so that he could cause harm to the vampire but not sure how he'd possibly go about it.

The other's tone became guarded, "Why?"

"I don't know," Gimili admitted. "You said he was of your line." He just really hoped suddenly it hadn't been Legolas.

"He is of the same line as I am, yes.  Which is why I ask again, why do you want to know?"

"Consider it a process of elimination," Gimli muttered, looking down at his feet.

Legolas went completely still at that before finally answering in part, "It wasn't me."

"But you said you're related, as much as vampires are," Gimli said.

"We're of the same line, yes," he paused, "so I ask again, why do you want to know?"

"Because I want to know," Gimli returned. "Why are you so afraid to tell me?"

"Because different though you are you're still a hunter and he was still your cousin," Legolas replied, uneasily.

"So what, you're scared I'm going to somehow find your doorstep and show up with a stake and demand a duel in revenge?" Gimli asked.

"Nothing so dramatic and stupid as that, I would hope.  But I don't put it past others in your household."

Gimli actually laughed. "You think I'd say a single thing to any of them about these conversations? Like, oh yeah, one of them has my cell number, and he told me who killed Kili so let's go after the bastard?"

Legolas snorted at that, amused briefly, "Alright, that's a good point."  He hesitated for a moment longer before finally admitting, "It was my sire."

Gimli paused for a long moment, and then he cringed. "Please tell me vampires don't consider each other brothers, because telling Fili that Kili sorta has another brother will probably end with the entire city in flames."

Legolas shuddered at that thought, "That is a very rare decision and is unique when it does.  So no.  Rather, _hell_ no.  There is no power on earth or under the earth that could make me claim Kili as more than a line tie."

"Good, because the first, or possibly the second person what would end up dead if that was the case would be you," Gimli said and then wondered why that mattered. "I mean," he tried and gave up salvaging what he'd just said.

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, "Would you care?"

"I don't know," Gimli admitted. "I think I might. Which means I really ought to hang up and bury my face in the sand and see if that means I won't think about it."

"And I should let you.  I'm not sure I'm quite willing to, though."

"What, would you call me back or something?" Gimli asked.

"Incessantly," Legolas replied, a hint of a smile creeping into his tone.

"If that's your plan, you'd have to pay for my phone bill," Gimli said and then nearly smashed the phone against the tree rather than deal with what he just said. Except he suspected Legolas might just abduct him again and that was worse.

"I might be able to manage that in such a case," Legolas laughed.

"Fuck," Gimli said under his breath and noticed Ori and Fili both watching him from the kitchen doorway, Ori's brows way up. "Actually, I have to go."

Legolas paused, sighing, "Alright, if you must.  Call me if you get the chance."

"Okay," Gimli said and actually meant it.

The vampire hung up, leaning his head back against the chair he was seated in and smiling faintly at the ceiling.

"So who have you been talking on the phone too so much?" Ori asked and Fili just looked at Gimli sideways. 

"No one," Gimli said, heading for the stairs and Ori just shook his head.

"I will find out!" he called after him and Gimli stamped particularly loudly on the stair he was on in reply.

Fili looked like at any other time in his life he would have laughed, but he couldn't remember how anymore. "Must you know everything?" he asked, moving back to the kitchen table as Ori shooed him away from the stove.

"Someone else can cook for you, and yes, I really must know everything."

With a sigh, Fili sank down in one of the wooden chairs, placing both his hands on the table, one still heavily bandaged. "If you seem to know everything, have you figured out what's going on with Bofur?" he asked and Ori stopped what he was doing, looking over his shoulder. "I mean, he's been acting... I don't know what he's been acting like, actually."

"Oh my god," Ori said, casting his eyes heavenward and going back to the stove.

"What?" Fili frowned. "What do you mean? Do you know why he's been hanging around so much with... I don't even know how he's looking at me."

"Oh my god," Ori repeated. "Ask him yourself."

"I did," Fili said, frowning at the wood grain on the table. "It wasn't much of an answer."

Sighing, Ori just shook his head again, throwing bacon on the frying pan, intending to add eggs but there came a knock on the door. They both turned their heads.

"I'll get it," Fili said, pushing himself to his feet but Ori put a hand over his chest.

"Not with your hand," he said quietly and Gloin beat them to the door anyway.


	6. But That was Hundreds of Years Ago

Bilbo shifted back on his heels slightly when the door opened.  He was doing this to regain his name, he just had to keep reminding himself that.  His hand was curled around the handle of a large basket and he looked up at Gloin, "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon," Gloin repeated, squinting at him slightly, as the sun was behind where a taller person's head would be. "What can I do for you?"

The knock had drawn the attention of the house, Thorin stepping out of his study, down the hallway and behind the stairs.

The librarian looked a bit flustered, "Well, I, you see, that is.  I haven't seen any of you at the library in a while, and I had heard about what happened with, well, what happened a few weeks ago.  And I just," he paused, holding out the basket.  "I brought some food.  It's not much, but it was all I could think of."

"A fruit basket?" Gloin asked, and Thorin appeared at his shoulder. His eyes were dark in the sunlight as he considered Bilbo.

"Thank you," he murmured. "Would you like to come in?"

"There's bread there too," Bilbo murmured, shifting his shoulders like there was an itch there at Thorin's thanks.  "Behind the apples.  And, if I wouldn't be imposing."

"It's no imposition," Thorin said, as Nori moved quickly to clear the weapons he'd been cleaning out of the parlor.

Bilbo offered a faint smile at that and stepped in, basket still in hand.  His grey eyes focused on Thorin, "I shouldn't stay long." Bofur slipped over and took the basket from him, offering him a crooked smile before retreating to set the food down in the kitchen.

As soon as he entered the kitchen, Fili frowned at him before moving forward to stand by his uncle who was showing Bilbo into the recently cleaned parlor and telling him he could stay as long as he liked. Even so, he kicked one of Nori's stray knives under the chair.

Bilbo caught the motion out of the corner of his eye and had half a mind to retreat as he was pretty certain the blade was iron and it was making him antsy.  He offered Fili a nod, noticing his hand but not asking, and looked back to Thorin, speaking quietly, "How are you holding up?"

Both Thorin and Fili's shoulders tensed. "We continue," Thorin said and Fili shot him a dark look before turning back to Bilbo, who he had meant a couple times at the library.

"It is kind of you to bring this," he said.

The smaller man paused, but nodded very slightly, "I wish I could do more."

"It's what you can do," Fili said. "And that is what matters."

Bilbo picked at a loose thread on his green shirt, though his attention remained with the two hunters, "If you're sure.  If there's anything more I can do for you all, do let me know."

"We'll be sure to," Fili said.

"Thank you," Thorin repeated, unsure what else to say, and thrown by the site of the librarian anywhere other than the library. "Is there anything we could get you?"

Bilbo shifted back on his heels at the thanks and shook his head, "No, I really did just want to bring the basket by and see if you all were holding up.  And, well, if there are any books from the library I can bring them by for you if you like."

"It," Thorin paused. "That will be fine."

"And, seeing as it's a public building, the library's always open if you need to get out.  It's not much of a destination, but it's a different setting at least," Bilbo offered, feeling like he had underestimated the futility of the task before him.

"We get out," Thorin protested and Fili truly looked like he was about to laugh hysterically in his uncle's face.

"Where we go does not count as 'out,' uncle," he said, a flash of bitterness in his voice, making Thorin's head slowly move over to stare at him.

Bilbo's gaze darted toward Fili, but he knew better than to indicate he knew what the other meant, "Well, if you think of it.  The library, or," he shrugged, "there's a coffee shop just up the block from the library that's quite good."

"Coffee?" Thorin inquired.

"It's liquid that you sometimes drink," Fili said and again Thorin turned to stare at him. "With friends even, in public."

"I am aware," he rumbled.

"Yes, coffee.  Or, or tea, or, hot chocolate, though their chocolate always tastes burnt," Bilbo rattled off, the tension between the two others setting him on edge.

"Are you offering to go?" Thorin asked, deciding to just ignore Fili.

"Well, I," Bilbo paused, not sure he had originally intended that, but finally nodded.  "If you would like.  As I said, to get out for a while."

"Only if you would like," Thorin murmured. "Perhaps you are right, and that we should leave the house."

"I offered, didn't I?" the librarian asked.  "That usually implies that I would like to."

"Then I would like to," Thorin said, though the line of his shoulders still didn't quite know what to do, whether to relax or become more tense.

"Tomorrow, perhaps?" Bilbo offered, feeling some of the tension in his back uncoil at one step accomplished, "Or later this week if that doesn't work?"

"Tomorrow would be fine," Thorin said.

That earned a slightly stronger smile, "Would three o'clock work for you?"

Thorin considered when he usually woke up after a night of hunting and nodded. "Yes." Beside him still, Fili couldn't decide whether to be happy his uncle would be out of the house and away from him or vaguely disdainful.

"Wonderful, so three o'clock tomorrow at the coffee shop, then." Bilbo nodded once to himself, his gaze flickering to Fili again but knowing better than to ask what was going on between them.

"Alright," Thorin agreed. "I shall see you tomorrow."

Bilbo paused before bobbing what was very close to a bow, "Take care, I'll see you tomorrow."  He hesitated a brief moment longer before leaving, the front door closing softly behind him.

For a long moment, neither Fili nor Thorin moved. "What is it?" Thorin asked finally.

"It's a rather stupid question," Fili said, looking at the wall and as the knock had gathered people to the door, the impending storm between Thorin and Fili sent most of them fleeing away again.

"Then you could at least bother to answer it," Thorin said, voice steady and he hated the fact he could remember Fili grinning up at him as a child, holding a frog he'd discovered up to Thorin's inspection, Kili holding on to the back of his shirt. But overlaid on that was Kili holding him, asking him about desire and with his fangs to his human brother's throat.

"You ask too much," Fili said, all but squarely leaving the blame for Kili at Thorin's feet with just a few words. Thorin had asked too much of Kili and if he asked too much of Fili now he might lose him too.

Thorin's hands tightened at his side. "You were taught to give me more."

"What if I don't want to?" Fili demanded, bracing himself with his feet apart. "What if I don't want to give you anything anymore?"

"You are my family," Thorin started to say, posture shifting as well to better square off against his nephew.

Fili's mouth twisted. "That does not mean my fate belongs to you! I don't have to follow you or believe what you believe--"

"So you would convince yourself your brother is still in that dead body rather than face the truth of what's happened?" Thorin asked. "It's not him anymore and you have to realize that."

"I realize that," Fili ground out.

"Do you really?" Thorin asked. "You could not kill it. And frankly you never answered its question either."

Fili froze, hands clenching before he slowly forced his fingers apart one by one. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean that when it asked you if you desired it as a human, you never answered," Thorin said and Fili turned on his heel, heading out the back kitchen door with a slam.

Bofur startled at Fili's abrupt appearance and departure, setting the last of the fruit from the basket in the fridge before following Fili quickly, the door closing more quietly behind him.

Fili had made it to the tree Gimli often stood beneath, jamming a cigarette between his teeth and fumbling with the lighter one handed in frustration. Stopping next to him under the tree, Bofur held out his hand in a silent offer to help with the lighter if Fili would let him.

Hesitating a long moment, wanting to do it himself, Fili held it out, pausing another second before handing Bofur the cigarette too.

Bofur faltered at that, but took the cigarette and placing it between his lips long enough to light it before offering the lighter and cigarette both back to FIli.  He pushed aside any thoughts of exactly how intimate that gesture could be under some circumstances.

It took Fili a long moment to take the cigarette back, placing it back in his mouth and thinking about where it had just been. "What do you want?" he asked, dropping the lighter back in his pocket.

"Just came out to keep you company." He shifted his weight toward the house very slightly, "I can go back in if you'd prefer to be alone."

"Did you hear anything?" Fili asked, voice dropping.

"It's hard not to when you and your uncle get going," Bofur answered honestly.  "Especially when you're in the next room."

Fili let out a shaky breath. "Are you inclined to accuse me of desiring my brother as well, to explain why I could not kill him--it--whatever wears his face."

The older man paused for a long moment, but shook his head, "No.  I'm inclined to blame it on you being close, whatever form that takes or took. You've grown up protecting Kili, after all and it doesn't matter what the thing is, it still looks like him."

Fili's head thudded back against the tree, blowing smoke toward the sky.

Bofur glanced at him and then away again, trying to find something to say that he hadn't said a half dozen times and finally murmuring, "I don't think it was telling the truth about how Kili felt about you in life.  I don't know if that helps at all, but I don't think there was honesty there.  Not like was said anyhow."

"But what if it was?" Fili asked, voice tiny and he was still looking up.

"No one can answer that but you," Bofur replied quietly.  "Just keep in mind that even if they do get memories of their life, I don't think I've ever heard of one getting all of them back which means that even if it does believe that's true it could probably be a distortion, like, like looking in a broken mirror."

"Except he said that I would not have denied him anything he asked for," Fili said. "And I'm scared that would have been true."

"Even if you didn't want it?" Bofur asked quietly, unsure what to think of what Fili was saying.

"For him? I had a habit of convincing myself I wanted anything he did," Fili said. "I might well have."

Bofur glanced at him again, his brown eyes unreadable, "Even to that point?"

"I don't know," Fili said, finally looking back at him. "I don't know and that's what terrifies me. I hate to think he might have been right."

His gaze skittering away briefly, Bofur shook his head, "But you don't know he was.  You can't tear yourself up over what ifs."

"Even when they're all I have left?" Fili asked. "Sometimes you sound like you know."

"Like I know what?" Bofur paused.

"About losing people and picking up the pieces."

"You seem surprised by that."

"No," Fili said. "I mean, not entirely. It makes sense, to live here, that everyone's lost someone."

Bofur frowned very slightly, "Then why shouldn't I talk like I have?"

“That's not--I sounded surprised not that you should not do it," Fii said.

"Not quite what I meant," Bofur shook his head.  "My words are jumbled again.  I meant why are you surprised by it then?"

"Nevermind," Fili said, looking away.

"Fili, I--" Bofur fell silent, dropping his gaze and picking at the cuticle of his left thumb.

Looking over, Fili considered him for a long moment, smoke drifting up through the branches. "You know, I asked Ori if he understood you."

The other man froze at that, trying to keep his tone casual, "What did he tell you?"

"To ask you myself," Fili said, almost sulky. "After yelling oh my god several times."

Bofur wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or disappointed with that revelation, "Why did you ask him in the first place?"

"Because I'm confused why you're always here," Fili said, shifting his shoulders back against the wood of the tree and barely noticing the bruises still there.

"Well, I, I told you that, didn't I?" Bofur looked up, eyes skirting over the other's features before darting away again.

"I'm still asking," Fili replied, stubbing the cigarette out on the tree behind him.

"What do you want me to say?" Bofur asked, feeling like he was backing himself into a corner. "You're important to me and I care about you."

"Yes, but usually someone _wants_ something," Fili said. "They're blood or they need me to do something or they need my... my blood to carry on their stupid heritage and their stupid crusade."

"But I don't want anything from you," Bofur protested, shifting back on his heels.

"And that's what I don't understand," Fili said, considering lighting another cigarette.

Bofur paused, studying Fili, "You don't understand why someone would want to help you without expecting something back?" Pausing, realizing how insane that might actually sound, Fili nodded. "Well what else am I supposed to do?" Bofur's question was directed more inward than to Fili and he shook his head very slightly.

"I would hardly know," Fili said. "Not care probably."

The brunet snorted faintly at that, "Too late for that.  I just want to help.  I think I may be in love with you and I--" He froze, paling and his brown eyes widening as he realized what words had just passed his lips.

It took Fili a moment to cock his head as that processed. "What?"

Bofur shook his head, backing up a half step, "I..."

"Love only really means one thing in our culture," Fili said. "I don't think you mean it in a particularly old fashioned way either."

"No, no I don't really I..." he trailed off, still looking like he was trying to find a retreat for having said that aloud.

"I don't understand," Fili said softly and it sounded broken.

Bofur stilled at that, uneasy but calmer, "What, what do you mean you don't understand?"

"Why you would care," Fili said. "For someone who's..."

"Who's what?  Loyal?  Protective? Handsome? Who cares deeply about the people important to him?  Why wouldn't I?"  Bofur looked at him in confusion.

"Because there's something never quite right about us," Fili said. "My family, I mean. We're not--"

“Not what?  Not normal?  What's normal?"  Bofur shook his head, "I don't care. Nothing's normal in this life."

"Right, we're not right," Fili said and tapped his temple. "Usually in the head. Probably in the souls if we had them. We're destructive, we ruin ourselves, why the hell would you walk into something like that?"

"Because I care about you," Bofur murmured.  "I can't help that."

"You should walk away," Fili said instead. "Run, maybe."

The other man shrugged very slightly, "Maybe I should.  Doesn't mean I will."

"How long?" Fili asked, pushing himself away from the tree.

Bofur reminded himself not to shift back at that movement, "I, I can't pinpoint it exactly.  It wasn't really a sudden thing."

"But Ori figured it out."

"Ori knows more than he probably ought to, so yeah he figured it out."

Fili didn't bother to ask why he hadn't then. "And you still say you don't want anything of me?"

Bofur nodded, "I didn't even mean to tell you.  I just, I want to be able to help, but I don't expect anything from you."

"But do you want anything?" Fili asked, shifting forward again.

Holding his ground, Bofur met the blond's eyes and hesitated, "It doesn't matter."

"What do you want?" Fili repeated, even closer than he had been.

His gaze darted away as he spoke again, "I, I don't."  He swallowed before trying again, "I want to be a reason your eyes light up again someday."

Fili's head snapped back like that was the last thing he'd ever expected. "What else?"

Bofur's eyebrows drew together in confusion, "What do you mean what else?"

"Is that all you want?" Fili pressed. "Nothing else in the entire world?"

"I..." Bofur tried to figure out what he could say to that.  "I want too much.  I, I want you.  And I,I want you to be happy but..." he shook his head.

"But what?" Fili asked, unable to stop pressing now that Bofur was speaking to him. "Please just talk to me. I know it’s hard,” he said, almost laughing hysterically. “For us. But please.”

"But I can live with want in those areas," Bofur answered, feeling something in his throat knot up at that.  "I just," his voice dropped until it was barely audible, "I don't know what I would have done if you'd been bit.  I haven't been as scared for someone as I have been for you since you saw him after."

For a second Fili couldn't breathe. "I don't care if you can live with it," he said finally. "I want to _know_."

Bofur raked a hand through his hair, knocking the hat he perpetually wore to the ground, "How many more ways can I say it?  I want to be there when you wake, when you go to sleep.  I want to be there on your good days and your bad.  I want to be the one you turn to when things get to be too much.  I want you to want me.  To want me to be your support, to be your friend, to be...God I don't know!  I want too much!"

"Why is that so much?" Fili asked, shifting closer again, so that they were almost touching. "Why is that so impossible to want?"

Bofur met the other's eyes again, his own raw with emotion, "Isn't it?"

"You could at least ask me before declaring it impossible," Fili said, swallowing hard.

"Is there any hope in those wants?" Bofur asked quietly, not certain he wanted either answer to that question.

"I don't know," Fili admitted. "Because I hadn't--I hadn't realized. It is selfish how much I want to be wanted by you now... now that I know."

Bofur shifted back very slightly, "I do want you.  That's, that's not likely to change, but I don't want to be something convenient…"

Fili blinked once. "No," he said. "No, it wouldn't be. I wouldn't..."

"But you can't say if anything else is possible," Bofur said mutedly, feeling like he'd laid too much of himself bare.

"Not yet," Fili agreed. "But I'd like... I'd like to try."

The brunet paused at that, "You, really?"

"I still don't know," he said. "What will happen. But... there's always been something about you. If not always, for long enough."

Bofur managed a smile at that, "Then, well then I'd like to try too."

"I'm still surprised," he said softly. "By the very idea."

"It's really so surprising as that?"

"Yeah," Fili said and a laugh actually worked its way out of his chest, though it sounded like it hurt. "Yeah it's really fucking surprising."

Bofur considered him, hesitating before reaching out and touching the other man's cheek before dropping his hand back to his side, "You deserve better than me, Fili.  I've got no idea how to prove to you that you shouldn't be so surprised by someone caring for you."

"You could try and make me used to the idea," Fili said quietly.

"I intend to.  I want to find a way to help you get used to the idea, to prove how much you mean to me and why."

"You can try," Fili said softly. "Please try."

Bofur paused before reaching up again and smoothing his thumb over Fili's cheekbone, "For as long as you let me, I will."

Breath hitching at the touch, Fili tried to stand still. He hadn't thought about how long it had been since anyone had touched him just to hold him, instead of slamming him against a wall or snapping his bones. "You don't need my permission to care."

"Hard to get when I'm so far gone in caring for you already, anyhow," Bofur murmured, his hand stilling to cup Fili's cheek and his gaze focusing on the other's eyes.

"You always have talked too much," Fili said faintly, not looking away and sounding more fond than annoyed.

Bofur's lips curved upward into a faint smile before he leaned in and pressed his lips gently to Fili's, uncertain still of his reception. Curling his unbandaged hand in Bofur's hair, Fili yanked him forward, the kiss still softer than he had expected.

Bofur startled, but curled his hand in Fili's shirtfront and leaned further into the kiss, the embrace still cautious, but more of Fili's injuries and bruises than of how he would respond.

Letting his mouth open, Fili could feel his fingers shake, and his knees felt weak. Lips parting and the tip of his tongue tracing over Fili's bottom lip, Bofur slipped an arm around the other man's waist to hold him close and support him at the same time.

Fili finally pulled away because he needed to breath, resting his forehead against Bofur's shoulder and not moving back. Bofur drew a steadying breath, silent for once as his hand not at Fili's waist moved to stroke the other's golden hair.

"That was," he started. "I can't even guess where you learned how to kiss like that."

That garnered a wry chuckle, though Bofur felt a twitch of pain at a memory, "Does it matter right now?"

"No," Fili swallowed. "No one in high school managed that though."

"Did you kiss very many people in High School?" Bofur asked, trying to keep his tone light even as jealousy flickered through his mind.

"Several," Fili said. "More than I should have."

"Why?" Bofur asked after a moment.

"Because t here's a certain point where you're being used for your body and not much else," Fili said, still not moving.

"That's kind of a sorry reason to kiss people," Bofur murmured before he thought about it.

"It was," Fili agreed, voice dropping lower. "But people seemed to pay more attention to me if I was willing to kiss them. Not as much as Kili but--"

The other man tensed at that, leaning back enough to try and shift Fili so he could catch the his eye, "Anyone who didn't notice you without you giving them something was an idiot."

Fili stubbornly didn't look up. "It doesn't really matter."

"Doesn't it?" Bofur pressed, one hand moving to Fili's cheek again, "You're worth more than that, Fili."

"No, it doesn't matter," Fili said. "Anyway, there are always bigger troubles."

"Doesn't mean the personal troubles don't hurt," Bofur replied.

"They hurt," Fili agreed softly. "But they've never killed me."

"Not all of you," Bofur murmured under his breath.  "You're strong, but you don't have to be that way alone.  And I mean that for your personal troubles too."

Fili finally looked up again. "Where have you been hiding?" he muttered under his breath.

"In plain sight.  Supposedly it's one of the best places to not be noticed," Bofur answered.

"You should talk more," Fili said. "Not just chatter, actually talk."

"Haven't had much practice at that.  Not sure I really know how to do one without the other."

"Maybe you could practice," Fili said, offering him a faint smile as he finally pulled back.

Bofur returned the smile, trying not to regret the separation, "Probably a good idea.  I've heard tell that's how to get good at something after all."

Tapping the back of his knuckles on Bofur's chest, Fili nodded. "Generally speaking. Thank you, though."

Bofur blinked at him in mild confusion, "For what?"

"For talking," Fili said, not meeting his eyes again.

Gently brushing his thumb along Fili's cheekbone again, Bofur nodded, "Anytime."

"If that's true, you'll get lots of practice talking," Fili said.

"Well, I apparently need it," Bofur replied with a bit of a grin.

Blinking down, Fili glanced back toward the house. "I should--"

Bofur followed his glance and paused, but nodded, "Yeah, I, I should see to some things myself."

"I'd hate for anyone to look out the window," Fili said. "And... assume things. I'd rather..."

The brunet shifted back on his heels slightly, "Rather what?"

Fili blinked once and his eyes widened. "We can both practice," he said under his breath. Kili had always understood what his silences meant. "I meant, that I'd rather have something for myself, not the entire family. I don't want Ori to laugh at him behind his hand, or Thorin to stare disapprovingly because I'm being distracted or my mother to ask what's going on, or Dori fussing over whatever he fusses over. It's impossible in this house but I want something to myself. For now. Until... until we know more."

Bofur relaxed at that from where he had barely registered that he had tensed.  He managed a faint smile, "Alright, I can understand that.  We'd, we'd probably better head inside then if we don't want anyone guessing and assuming then."

The corner of Fili's mouth quirked up and he turned, striding back inside, though he glanced back again before he reached the door. Bofur leaned down and picked up his hat from where it had fallen, brushing it off against his knee.  He caught Fili's glance and offered him another smile and a nod.  He'd wait for a couple of minutes before he went back in.

-0-

Gloin paused, watching Nori pack a bag to go out. "I assume you won't be stupid enough to go alone?"

Dori stepped through the door, a few books held in his good arm, and frowned when he saw his brother, "Nori, what are you doing?"

"You two are both like mother hens," Nori sighed, sliding a knife into the holster he had beneath his jacket. "Bifur and I are going out."

"I think there's reason for that," Dori protested, his broken arm still in a sling and he had been relegated to work around the house until it healed.  "Where are you going?"

"We need to do some sweeps of the East side of town," he said, with an unconcerned shrug.

His older brother set the books down, eying him warily, "There's been a lot of activity over there."

"We'll be careful," he said with another shrug and Gloin looked over the room at Dori, his injuries still keeping him home as well.

"Careful only gets people so far right now."

Nori was about to say something scathing about Fili and stopped, looking from his brother to his cousin. "Well, it'll keep us well enough. Besides, who the fuck would try to take out Bifur?"

"You're rather dismissive right now, Nori," Dori frowned.  "Don't put it past them to go after the two of you."

"Are you really going to frown disapprovingly every time I leave the house now?" he asked, frowning.

"When I think you're going out underprepared, yes I am," came the quick response from his brother.

Nori gestured to the bag at his feet. "Please, like most of my weapons aren't hidden anyway."

"Which will do you a lot of good if they get the drop on you," Dori said testily, turning to pick up the books to reshelf them.

"That's why Bifur is watching my back," Nori said. "Seriously, is this going to be the new thing? The even more worry? And pestering? You pester enough as it is you know."

"You shouldn't be so flippant," Gloin said, remembering still Kili's wide eyes in the low light when he'd been injured, and the last time Kili had been alive.

"I'm not pestering," Dori snapped, the loss of Kili and the increasing number of injuries around the house had him more on edge than usual and he felt he could hardly be blamed for worrying.

"Yeah, you are," Nori said, and shook his head. "But anyway, I'm going out. Try not to stay up late waiting or any such nonsense."

Dori opened his mouth to say something else, but closed it abruptly and turned back to what he was doing, "Come back in one piece or you get to tell Ori why you went out without adequate preparation."

Still thinking he was entirely prepared, Nori opened his mouth, thought about the suppressed fury in Ori's eyes and added another several knives. "Whatever," he said, heading for the door.

Waiting until he heard the door shut before turning around, Dori scowled in that direction, "He's too goddamn overconfident."

"Many of the young are," Gloin said, though thankful Gimli had never given indications he was.

"Nori's not that young!" Dori protested.

"He's young enough," Gloin said. "And he acts younger." He sighed, shaking his head as he settled back on the couch. "No sense of perspective or heritage in him."

Dori replaced the final book and then looked toward his cousin again, "I just hope he finds some of that perspective before he gets himself or someone else killed."

"Ideally they would all learn that," Gloin said.

Running his good hand through his silver hair, Dori sighed, "You'd think some of the encounters he'd had would knock sense into him, but he gets away unscathed too much."

"An injury might not even do him good," Gloin said, trying to find a comfortable position.

Dori caught the motion, instinctively settling into what was not so affectionately called his "mother hen" mode, "Can I get you anything?  A pillow, painkillers?"

"I'm fine," Gloin said, arching a brow slightly. "Besides, wouldn't I need to be offering the same for you?"

He looked briefly flustered at that, "I'm still standing, I thought I'd offer before I sat down."

"Sit down, Dori, and rest," Gloin said, almost fondly as he shook his head.

Pausing for another moment, nervous energy in the wake of Nori's departure still thrumming through him, Dori finally sank down into one of the chairs in the room, "I feel like I fell short somewhere, Gloin."

"Where could you have fallen short?" Gloin asked.

"Nori's as reckless as men half his age, I've left Ori woefully unprepared, I just..."  He tipped his head back to let it rest against the back of his chair.  "I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to either of them."

Gloin frowned. "Ori... Ori is something else though, isn't he? You've tried to keep him safe and away from this world."

"But it doesn't work like that.  I want, I want so much more for him than this hell, but he's still in this world whether I like it or not."

Gloin paused. "A few weeks ago you would not even have admitted that."

"A few weeks ago Kili was still alive and my arm was unbroken," Dori responded sharply.

"Still," Gloin said, though his voice had dropped. "It is quite something for you to admit."

Rubbing his eyes Dori sighed, "Well, I've had to start facing facts.  It's not like he hasn't been sneaking into my library at least for years now."

Gloin tried to keep a straight face. "Knew about that did you?"

"He's good at going unnoticed, but I dealt with Nori before Ori even considered trying anything behind my back," Dori replied with the faintest ghost of a smile.

That got a quiet laugh out of Gloin, trying not to strain his injuries again. "Nori likes to think he's sneakier than he is."

Dori snorted, "He always has.  It's played into that reckless cockiness of his, unfortunately."

Frankly Gloin would have been more worried about Ori's actual sneaky capabilities, but he nodded. "He'll figure it out in time. I'm quite sure of it."

Dori looked skeptical, but nodded very slightly, "I certainly hope so."

Oin entered at the moment, frowning down at some notes in his hands, "This isn't good at all."

"What's not good, brother?" Gloin asked.

Oin startled very slightly, having not fully registered there were people in the room where he had been going to seek a volume to confirm what he was seeing, "The portents bode ill."

Dori arched a skeptical eyebrow, "The portents?"

Scowling over at Dori, Gloin looked back toward Oin. "What  portents are those that bode so ill?"

Oin frowned down at his scribbled notes again, "Deaths of birds for no perceived reason.  Dogs howling at all hours and falling silent abruptly, seismic activity where there hasn't been any recorded in centuries."

Dori offered Oin a long look, "Birds fall ill, dogs howl it's what they do, and so the activity hasn't been recorded."

The older man looked up from his notes, meeting Dori's eyes as he finished his list, "children stolen from cradles, those dead and buried seen walking in the daylight, and snakes being born to rodents only to turn upon those that birthed them and devour them."

"That last one hasn't happened, has it?" Gloin asked, shudder going down his spine. "That's just..."

Dori started to open his mouth to protest that it couldn't possibly have, but Oin spoke first, "It happened thirty miles from here.  The night before last."

Gloin shuddered again. "We see some horrible things but that seems out there." He glanced over at Dori. "Do you think something is happening then, brother? It might well explain our bad luck of late."

Dori sat in shocked silence, still looking skeptical as he tried to find a logical explanation but drawing complete blanks.  Oin nodded, "Based on these Omens?  Something is happening, or will happen, very soon most like."

"How soon?" Gloin asked.

Oin shook his head, "I don't know.  Soon.  That much is clear, but the omens and the readings are still too mild to pinpoint with any real accuracy.  It could be a week, it could be a month."

"That's still not a lot of time," Gloin murmured. "Have you talked to Thorin yet?"

“I wished to see if we had anything that could help with a more specific indication," his brother answered.  "I am going to speak with him after doing so."

"He'll want to hear this as soon as possible," Gloin assured. "With everything else that has been going on..."

Oin nodded very slightly, crossing the room and considering the books before picking up the one he had been looking for and flipping through it swiftly, "There have been far too many things happening in this household than have in the past."

Gloin looked at Dori again and then back to his brother. "Aye, we seem to have acquired something beyond bad luck. We'd had to have break a mirror factory to match this."

"Best to avoid mirrors all together right now," Oin advised, completely serious as he looked through the book, earning an unimpressed look from Dori.

"Or black cats," Gloin mused.

"Of course, best not to risk worse luck," their cousin murmured, sarcasm in his tone.

Oin nodded once, "Precisely."

"I've never understood why a man with such a large library on mythical creatures is so dismissive of the prophecy that comes with it," Gloin said, giving Dori a dark look.

"Some people don't believe what they can't understand," Oin murmured.

Dori frowned at both of them, "Mythical creatures have been proven.  We go out hunting at least one sort of them every night.  Prophecy is less proven, by many miles."

"They are still the parcel of the same world," Gloin protested. "Must a thing be proven to you?"

"Putting too much stock in the unproven is dangerous," Dori responded.

"So is dismissing it," Oin advised finally glancing up.

"The world is a strange place, after all," Gloin said. "There's much we still  cannot explain."

"So strange things are happening," Dori shook his head.  "It doesn't mean the world is ending."

Oin cleared his throat, placing his finger in the book, "Actually, I think it might."

Gloin sighed. "It's always possible it is," he told Dori before looking back at his brother. "What is it?"

Oin opened the book again to confirm what he was reading, "The increasing damage of the portents, and the devouring serpents imply that something is coming out of the depths, and whatever it is will likely destroy everything in its path."

Gloin paused a beat. "We should really tell Thorin," he said finally, feeling his gut twist up.

Oin nodded very slightly, heading for the door, "I'll go do that."

Dori looked to Oin at that, "He's out for an hour or so right now."

Gloin paused. "Is he? That's odd."

"The librarian came by yesterday and invited him to coffee," Dori informed.  "Left a fruit basket too."

Gloin blinked once. "The librarian?" he asked, tone wary.

Dori nodded, "Apparently he knew we'd lost Kili."

Gloin blinked again. "That..." he shook his head, feeling like the entire thing was unexpected.

Oin frowned, "Why did he come?"

"Something about wanting to help and wishing he could do more," Dori shook his head.  "He's never proven untrustworthy, but he's also only been concerned with books not with anything further."

Frowning, Gloin shook his head. "But Thorin went out with him?"

"Apparently," Dori nodded, "He agreed to meet him today at three at the coffee shop near the library."

"It's very odd," Gloin huffed. "Almost a sign of the end of days itself."

Dori snorted at that and Oin chuckled, "On a personal level, that may not be inaccurate."

"Our intrepid leader, falling to the thing he complains about in others," Gloin said, shaking his head. As the technical head of an old fashioned family, he had fought with Thorin when he declared that he was to marry.

"Oh I don't know if it's quite _there_ ," Dori protested, waving his hand as though trying to pinpoint exactly what else it could be.

"He agreed to go with someone for coffee," Gloin said. "It might as well be."

"It's just coffee," Dori said, skepticism in his tone.

"And it's just Thorin," Oin said, offering Dori a long look.

His cousin shook his head, "I think you're too used to reading into things."

"Just coffee indeed," Gloin shook his head. "That's how it starts you know." He spoke from more experience than anyone else in the room.

"As Oin said, it's Thorin.  I don't see it going very far.  For a start, how do you expect him to deal with what he does every night?" Dori arched an eyebrow.

Gloin just shrugged, clearly still believing what he wanted to believe.

Dori shook his head and pushed himself to his feet, "Well, I have some things I want to see to before dark.  I'll see the two of you later." The brothers watched him leave, Gloin shaking his head slightly.

-0-

Bilbo entered the cafe, letting his grey eyes roam around, looking for Thorin. He ordered himself a tea and found a table out of the way, and yet near enough to the windows that the sun coming through the glass was warm on his face.  Not for the first time he reminded himself of his reasons for doing this.  He was going to finally have his name back, the world would hopefully not end, and well, Thorin was an attractive human.

It took several long minutes for Thorin to arrive, later than he'd like for a meeting. He was trying to remember the last time he'd been out in public during the day for something other than a business meeting.

The other half rose as he approached, offering him a smile, "I'm glad you made it.

“Thank you," Thorin said, with a long incline of his head. "How does the day treat you?"

Bilbo shrugged, sipping at his tea, "Well enough.  The sun is shining and it's been an easy day all told.  And how does it for you?"

Thorin blinked at him once. "It is another day," he said quietly, trying not to think about the way Fili snarled at him or how quiet the house seemed.

That earned him a long, considering look, "You don't get out nearly enough."

"I probably don't," Thorin agreed softly. "But lately I've wanted to do it even less."

"Lately it's become more important, though," Bilbo murmured, before shaking his head.  "Beg pardon, that's not my place to say."

"What is good for you and what you want to do are often entirely different things," Thorin said.

That earned a snort and a wry curve of Blibo's lips, "You can say that again."

Quirking a brow, Thorin considered. "What do you do then, that is so bad?"

"Not much in the whole scheme of things," he hedged before choosing the lesser answer that was still honest.  "I left home against absolutely everyone's thoughts and suggestions.  It probably would have been better for me to stay."

"That can be a lot," Thorin said after a beat. "Depending on the family."

That earned a shake of his head, "Indeed it can. Especially with a family like mine.  We don't...we don't leave home much."

"That sounds familiar," Thorin said finally, thinking about the crumbling house that no one seemed to leave without dying."

The other nodded, "But sometimes one just has to, well, has to move on from tradition.  Let a little bit of it go in order to actually find life."

For a long moment Thorin watched him. "Tradition has its moments... It gives life a structure, sometimes a purpose."

"And sometimes it does little more than cage a person.  Structure's one thing, a strait-jacket another."

"So you ran," Thorin said and it didn't sound like a condemnation.

Bilbo nodded, "In a way.  I'll go back someday, I'm just not ready to yet."

"Would they accept you back?" Thorin asked.

"I'm not the first of us to go wandering," Bilbo responded, "Though my father likely would not."

"It would be his loss, I presume," Thorin said.

Bilbo's lips curled into a smile, "Well, I like to think so."

Thorin dropped his eyes back to the coffee he'd picked up before coming over to the table. He wished for a moment he had hair long enough to use as a shield between his eyes and the world. "He probably would not deserve it in that case."

"Perhaps not, but he's my father, and when I go back I shall try for reconciliation, whether it's granted or not."

"A worthy goal," Thorin said and wished he could stop thinking about his nephews for even a moment.

Bilbo considered him for a long moment, "But for me that opportunity is several years off, most likely."

"Is there something on your mind?" Thorin asked, aware of the consideration.

"There usually is," Bilbo answered, dismissing it.  "I'm curious what's on yours, though."

"I think that would be fairly obvious," Thorin said, voice dropping lower.

"Your nephews," Bilbo responded softly.

"I thought I'd lost one of them," he said, shaking his head and staring at the coffee on the table between his hands. "Not that I was in the danger of losing both of them."

"They were very close before whatever happened to Kili, weren't they?" he asked, thinking of how rarely he'd seen them apart when he had seen them.

Thorin couldn't stop the shiver that went through his shoulders when he thought about the vampire's leer over Fili's shoulder. "Perhaps too much," he managed.

Bilbo weighed that and the way the brother's had interacted.  The way their smiles were like sunshine and Kili's laughter like a cool breeze in a meadow, "I doubt that.  Close, but not indecently so.  Damagingly, certainly.  Have you tried just...talking to Fili?"

"It's not..." Thorin started. "Even without it being... indecent... Fili will not move on. And that is dangerous."

"You're afraid he'll do something reckless?"

"He already has. He's simply survived his stupidity so far."

"Well, he needs something to live for.  Which is only something he can find," Bilbo murmured.

For a long moment Thorin didn't say anything, simply watching him. "Why do I feel as if you know more than you've ever let on?"

Bilbo blinked at him before shaking his head, "It's not hard to put things together.  I don't just check books out to people, sometimes I read them too.  And I've been in this city long enough to know that going out after dark without a cross or holy water is a guaranteed way to end up dead."  Not that he willingly handled any holy relics himself.  He was fortunate in that his blood was undesirably to vampires--fae were not meant to be part of their diet.

Thorin blinked once. "Then you certainly know more than you have ever let on."

"I know a great deal, I don't see the need to let everyone I meet know everything I do.  And I mostly suspected as regarded Kili."  He paused, "They didn't kill him fully did they?"

Thorin's compulsive grip on the coffee mug nearly shattered it. "No."

Bilbo sighed, dropping his gaze, "I'm sorry to hear that."

Thorin's expression barely changed. "What do you know of it?" he asked, both about grief but more largely about questions of the vampires.

He looked out the window, considering which question to answer first, "Enough to know that he'll have memories.  Not many, probably all of them incomplete, but he'll have some.  It takes some of them longer to recover their memories than others.  I know that as a newly turned the odds are against him lasting out a year.  I know that if he was turned there was some sort of a reason for it, though that's no consolation whatsoever.  And I know he'll have entered a line, though whether the one who turned him puts credence in that or not is a different matter entirely."

"I don't know what memories he has," Thorin said after a beat. "Except Fili." He paused again, continuing quietly. "I'm not sure he recognized me. I don't know if that makes it harder or better."

"Sometimes things can be both," Bilbo answered.  "It's also useful to remember that some things that are said by them are full of guile, and distorted.  Not all things, but some."

"Like desiring his own brother?" Thorin said and snapped his jaw shut.

Bilbo opened his mouth to reply, but blinked for a long moment and closed it again, thinking before responding, "Probably.  You said he remembered Fili.  It's entirely probable that he remembered his brother, and how close they were, but not the actual emotions that went along with that.  I'm not saying that the change hasn't, or can't distort the method of affection, but I haven't heard of that happening often."

"I wish that could help," Thorin said softly.

Bilbo glanced away again, "Not much is going to help in this situation, though, is it?"

"No," Thorin agreed. "I'm somewhat surprised you're even trying."

"Would you rather I not?" Bilbo asked, eyebrows rising slightly.

“I'd rather know why," he said, voice dropping.

"Because I don't like to see you hurting.  And although I know there's nothing I can do to stop that, I would like to ease it a bit," he answered quietly.

"Why?" he asked, leaning forward. "You've only ever met me at the library. Why care?"

"Why does anyone care?  Because you caught my attention, because you confuse me, because I recognize deepening grief when I see it."

"Most people would walk away rather than stop and look."

"That makes me sound like someone who revels in pain," Bilbo muttered, frowning.  "I want to try and help because I want to.  There's not much more of an answer than that."

"No, that's not what I meant," Thorin protested. "It's easier not to pay attention to people in pain."

“But that's not how I work," Bilbo responded.  "I don’t' like, I don't like seeing people in pain.  It's, it's just something I always want to alleviate if I can."

"It's still very odd to me," Thorin admitted. "But... thank you."

Bilbo's shoulders twitched in what was a half shrug and he sipped his tea rather than grimace, though it was going tepid, "Don't thank me.  I've done nothing worth it."

Thorin considered him a moment. "You don't accept thanks gracefully, do you?"

"It's not usually offered with much grace either," Bilbo answered.  "It's an automatic response people give when they're not sure what else to say or do."

"I do not--" he started, sounding offended. "I would not offer someone my thanks if I did not mean it."

"Then you are one of the few," Bilbo said.  "I'll try to keep in mind that your gratitude is genuine."

"There is not usually much that is worth giving thanks for," he said, looking down again and realizing that the coffee had gone completely cold with only a few sips taken from it.

"Really?"  Bilbo didn't sound especially surprised by that point of view, though perhaps his tone held a note of regret at it.

"Let us just say that November is a month that passes without remark," he said with a small shrug. "For our entire household, for that matter."

"Oh," Bilbo nodded very slightly.  He paused, stirring his tea and deciding that it was far too cold for him to be willing to drink it, "How long has your family been hunters?"

"Generations," he said. "I'm not sure I could even tell you since when. But we know the name of Durin, who was a famed hunter. Sometimes... sometimes others in our line are named for him as well. We certainly liked to tell ourselves those with his name had the same brilliance as he did but we may have been fooling ourselves."

Bilbo paused, considering the name, "Durin, I know that name.  Wasn't there, wasn't there a temporary alliance with those you hunt during his time?"

"You have done your reading," Thorin said, expression snapping shut instantly. "Yes. But that was hundreds of years ago."

"Well, I hardly meant to imply that I expected it to happen _now_ ," Bilbo said.  Planting the idea was one thing, expecting it to ever come to fruition?  He had already told Gandalf exactly what chances he thought there were of that.

Instead of answering Thorin looked away for a moment, considering the few other costumers in the shop, all talking happily to each other and smiling and laughing. He remembered why he didn't often leave the company of his own family much anymore. "It was a pipe dream then," he said. "Only brought on because there was no other choice."

"What exactly where the circumstances surrounding it?"

"The end of the world, I rather believe," he replied.

Bilbo's eyebrows rose sharply at that, "Those would certainly be considered extenuating circumstances."

Thorin nodded. "But now I might not prefer to see the world burn than dare to trust them." He paused a beat. "Thank you for the drinks," he said, though neither of them had drunk much and pushed himself to his feet.

Bilbo managed not to flinch at the thanks, just waving a hand, "You needed to get out.  I hope to see you again, Thorin."  Mentally he was cursing the person who had invented gratitude, and blending it with every curse he could think of that he could bring down on Gandalf's head.  He was beginning to wonder if his Name was worth it.

Inclining his head, Thorin turned for the door, slipping out on feet trained to be stealthy in the night.

Bilbo watched him go before slumping over the table and considering if there was a way to kill meddling old men so he wouldn't have to deal with this any longer. He somehow doubted it.


	7. Then it's the New Moon

Dis entered the kitchen the following day, finding Ori there, "Ah, here you are.  Are you able to get away today?"

"I believe I can manage," he nodded. "Just let me finish the dishes." In the last two days he hadn't spoken much to Dis, unsure how he felt like reacting still.

Dis nodded, leaning against the wall and letting her eyes roam around the room.  She had been all but actively avoiding everyone else in the house since Fili had come home with his hand broken by his turned brother.

"Alright," Ori said after another moment, setting the dishes aside. No one had ever told him he should take care of the kitchen, but with everyone else often so busy with other things--including their drama--it made him feel better to see that things were clean when they fell into the house after a night of hunting and needed coffee. "Where would you like to go today?"

"There's an old lot on 17th that works well for target practice.  I was thinking we'd go there and work on your ranged weapons skill," she answered, pushing off from the wall.

"Alright," he said, following her. "That would be good."

"How are you doing, Ori?" she asked as they exited the house, stepping into the early afternoon sunshine.

"Better, I suspect, than some," he hedged.

"Probably a fair assessment," she replied, turning up the street and glancing at him, "But not really an answer."

"No," he agreed. "But it's hard to bitch and moan about how much I hurt in the face of everyone else."

"I suppose I can see why you might think that," Dis agreed as they came to the lot and she looked around it, considering and trying to banish the memories of training her sons alongside Thorin years before.

"It's not fair to qualify pain," he said, stopping and turning to look at her. "So I'm not going to say Fili's hurting the most. But you might want to take a look at how close he is to shattering."

She drew a deep breath at that, fixing him with a long look, "You're of the opinion I should have held my tongue."

"I'm thinking no matter you or Thorin or anyone else believed he should have killed Kili, no, I don't think any of you should have opened your mouths about it," he said and wished he could stop being so angry. "He's breaking and if you thought this wasn't coming for a while, you weren't paying attention. So far Bofur's the only one who hasn't said anything stupid."

Her jaw tensed, and anger sparked in her eyes, but her tone was steady as she spoke, "He's going to need to realize at some point that we can't afford to break.  Not completely.  No matter how much we may wish to, no matter how close we come to it."

He stared at her a long moment, jaw dropping slightly without opening his mouth as he thought about how different Dis and Thorin were, even from his own brothers. "You and Thorin," he said finally. "You don't see yourselves as people really, do you? It's about the family, about what you consider your duty and calling. _That_ comes first to you."

Dis' tone dropped at that, "It's about the fact that my son has nearly gotten himself killed twice in these past weeks after his brother already did get himself killed.  It is about the fact that if I lose both of them so entirely as that, it will matter very little how I can't afford to break.  It is about the fact that Fili is not the only one to lose someone, but we're not a family who has ever been able to communicate.  You've been around long enough to know that much."

"I didn't mean, earlier, that this was just because of Kili," Ori said, instead of the other things that came to mind first. "Fili's been teetering on that edge for a long time."

"You seem to know my son far better than anyone else, then," she replied, face expressionless and tone heading quickly toward acerbic.

"Yeah, I do," Ori said, not even pausing to think about what he was saying or how much more trained she was in causing people pain than he was. "Because I pay attention. And occasionally even communicate."

"Then where did he start teetering, if you know this so well?"

"When he graduated high school," Ori said, promptly. "When he got into fights with Thorin about college. Do you know how he calmed down from that? Kili said when graduated high school they'd go to actual college together, Thorin be damned about his rules."

"Son of a bitch," she murmured, pinching the bridge of her nose before echoing it with more force, "Son of a goddamned motherfucking bitch.  Did it mean so much to him as that?"

"Yeah," Ori said but his eyes softened slightly. "But he decided then it wasn't worth fighting for. Giving up is not a good characteristic to have here."

"Fuck," she swore again.  "No, no it's not.  If he'd just, if they'd just..." she broke off and shook her head, "No, that's not true.  The only one of us who was ever any good at talking was Frerin.  And even he spoke more through action than words."

"And he's gone now too," Ori said quietly.

Dis nodded very slightly, not thinking about her brother more than she had to, "I hadn't realized how long Fili had been slipping toward breaking."

"It's sad in a way," Ori said after another beat. "My brothers want me to go to college so bad and... and I want to go. But I keep telling them I want training too and to not be shoved out of this world because I know it exists and I can't just forget. Whereas he wants to go--I never could figure out what for but he wanted to go and learn and just.... but he got pushed back and told to do his duty." He leveled Dis with a long look. "People like him need more than duty."

Dis breathed deeply and nodded, "He does, but I haven’t any idea how to give it to him."

Nodding, Ori seemed to accept that. "I mean... I don't think anyone wants him to turn into a mini-Thorin."

That earned a snort, "No.  On so many levels, no.  I love my brother but I do not want my son to turn into him."

"Then you might want to pay attention," Ori said quietly. "I'm sorry, I didn't really mean to... to do whatever I just did. It's just, he and Kili were my friends and I'd like to see him walk out of this."

She sighed and reached up to tie her hair back in preparation for actually training him as she nodded, "I know.  I just, I don't know what to do with him.  I've never been good at either part of the communication, either the talking or listening until something jars me and then the talking tends to be more of a yelling sort."

"I've noticed that too," Ori said and finally smiled. "Maybe," he said, becoming more serious. "Instead of listening or talking you could try watching first."

That earned the faintest twitch of Dis' lips, "I may have to consider that."  She paused for a long moment, "Watching is something I can do, after all.  Now, we have work to do here."

He nodded again. "Alright. I can do work."

She slung her bag off her shoulder and withdrew a small crossbow, "We're going to see about practicing with this today, I think."

He nodded. "Would you like to show me or are you handing it to me first?"

"Do you know your way around one of these at all?" She asked, arching an eyebrow, having only worked so far with close range weapons.

"Um, sorta?" he offered. "If by playing with Nori's that counts as knowing anything."

"Then let me take you through the steps and then we'll see how you do with it," she answered, already pulling out a bolt to show him how to properly load it with little time lost.

-0-

Arwen was bent close over the fabric and small stitches she was working on, a pleated skirt taking shape under her fingers.  She barely glanced up when she sensed someone else in the room, "Hello, Elrohir.  What do you want?"

He entered, sitting down beside her, avoiding pins and scissors as he did so, "I wanted to ask if you were interested in a new project.  Since I can see you're putting the final hem on this one."

"That is not in the least why you're asking." She offered him a brief look, but turned back to the hem, "What sort of project?"

"I was hoping for as accurate a period outfit as you could make."

His sister closed her eyes, trying not to even think about why, "Which period?"

"Late 1790s."

"What class?" she sighed.

"Which class do you think?" he returned, amusement warming his voice.

"I am not paying for that much lace and brocade," she answered without even having to think about it.

"Even if you get all the remnants?”

"I'm going to be building the pattern from scratch and fitting it to you, so there won't be many remnants," she answered, offering him a long look.  "You're going to want brocades, and satins, and probably silk.  And the best lace I can find.  So I'm going to say this simply.  With the amount of money you're going to spend and the amount of time I'm going to have to put into this in order to make it accurate and durable you are getting only one.  Do not destroy it."

He offered her a blinding smile, just a little too bright to be innocent and sincere, "I would never dream of it.  So if I was to give you the funds for the fabric...?"

"No.  In fact, hell no."  She offered him a sweet smile, "You get to come fabric shopping with me.  I'll need your input on what you want it looking like."

"When?"

"Tonight."

His eyes widened, "Tonight?  But, Ell--"

"Do you want the outfit or not?" she asked, eyes watching him.

Elrohir let out a noise that came perilously close to sounding like a dog's whine before he nodded, "Fine, tonight.  I'll see you at sunset?"

"Indeed you will," she smiled faintly as he rose and left.

Moments later, Elladan found him. "There you are. Elrond would like to see us, probably to stress again to stay away from the hunters. I'm trying not to laugh every time they tell us that because I know Legolas has been glued to his phone for the last several days. Texting, even. I didn't know he knew how to do that."

"It's a simple enough keyboard, I doubt it took him as long as we would like to believe," Elrohir answered, pausing and deciding he had no way to segue into informing his brother that there was a change in plans for the night.

"No," Elladan shrugged. "But he's getting quite good at it."

"I just hope he has enough sense to delete them afterward," Elrohir muttered.

"Probably not," Elladan said. "Do you think there's a point we could steal his phone and check without him noticing?"

"He's been glued to the thing since we let him have the number," Elrohir responded by way of negation.

Elladan hummed, propping his chin on Elrohir's shoulder. "So what's on your mind then?"

Elrohir reached up absently to comb his fingers through the other's hair, "I'm, um, well, I'm suddenly not going hunting tonight."

“Really?" Elladan asked, brows going up, hands sliding around Elrohir's waist. "What ever brought that on?"

"Arwen has informed me that I am to go shopping with her, and as I have ducked out the last three times she has insisted upon that, I am no longer allowed to do so," he said, only half lying.

Elladan laughed. "Should I come save you?"

He managed a laugh that he was proud to say sounded not in the least bit hysterical, "No, she's looking for fabric for her latest project or some such.  And much as I adore you you haven’t the same flair for that."

Elladan huffed. "No, I suppose I'm not nearly as fashionably inclined," he and stopped and nipped the lobe of Elrohir's ear. "As you."

Elrohir drew a sharp breath at that, "I think the stores close by, by midnight.  So we should be back early, still."

"Good," Elladan rumbled and laughed, stepping back. "Come on, I did think Elrond wanted us."

Elrohir caught him and pulled him close, pressing a demanding kiss on his lips, "Oh forget him for a minute."

"Just a minute?" he asked, drawing back and laughing again in a teasing manner.

"I just found out that I'm spending my early night fabric shopping instead of going out and making a scene with you and eating whoever makes a fuss about it, Elrond can wait," he said, pulling Elladan nearer by his hips again. 

A dry voice cut through at that, "You know, when I said I wanted to talk with you I don't recall that ever meaning molest your brother in the corridor."

“Elrohir always had a creative way of interpreting things," Elladan said, still laughing.

That earned a wry twist of Elrond's lips as Elrohir finally released Elladan, "He always has."

"It's a habit that's impossible to break now," Elladan said, still grinning at his brother. Elrohir returned the grin, though there was something lurking in his eyes, Erlond's comment was usually the start of a fight the two of them had had on and off for four centuries.

"At any rate, you were looking for us for speaking and not molesting reasons?" Elladan said after the moment's silence.

Elrond hummed slightly at that, nodding, "I trust that with four hundred years experience on each or your parts I don't need to mention the hunters again.   So I'm going to ask that you keep an eye out for anything unusual at this point.  Anything that, well, that will herald a shift in what's currently happening."

"You mean like when the gates between the dimensions start opening and the demons come out?" Elladan asked.

Elrond offered him an unimpressed look, but nodded, "Something like that.  We're rather hoping that something slightly less dramatic occurs to show us that that will be happening in short order, but yes."

Shoulders slumping a shade, Elladan nodded. "Of course we'll keep our eyes out. Do we have any idea what might happen?"

"We know nothing more than the fact that Smaug is attempting to rise and destroy the world.  But there will be heralds before he appears," Elrond answered.  "We've no idea what form those heralds will take."

"But it's safe to assume they'll try and kill us?" Elladan asked.

"It's safe to assume they'll try to kill everything.  Which, in the long run is more detrimental to us than if they were killing us outright."

Elladan pulled a face. "I don't like the thought of starving," he agreed, fingers inching to move out where Elrohir stood beside him.

Elrond saw the motion, even as Elrohir slid his hand ever so slightly toward Elladan as well, "Yes, starvation is a painful, long lasting way to go and takes us far too long.  So do let myself or Celeborn know if you see anything, yes?"

"Will do," Elladan said with a faint smile.

Elrond returned the smile with the faintest quirk of his lips, glancing at Elrohir who offered him a thin smile too.  Elrond inclined his head, "I will see you two later. Let us hope hell doesn't open tonight."

"I'd like it to wait a little longer," Elladan agreed. "Besides, Elrohir has to go shopping with Arwen tonight and that's usually about as much as anyone can handle without hell throwing itself into the mix."

Elrond's eyebrow arched at that, "She's taking you shopping?" 

Elrohir rolled his eyes and shrugged, "I was told my presence was required.  Not requested, required."

"And it's best not to argue with requirements," Elladan laughed.

"Not that it's ever stopped you before," Elrond murmured, earning a thin-lipped smile and a threat of a growl from Elrohir.

Elladan glanced between them quickly. "Is there anything else we may do for you tonight?"

"No, I believe that's everything," Elrond responded.  "Do be careful when you go out tonight."

"Always and ever," Elladan agreed.

Elrond inclined his head to them before slipping away.  Elrohir finally relaxed when he was out of sight. "What's wrong?" Elladan asked, his attention snapping over.

"I miss Celebrian," Elrohir answered.  "I miss her every time he gets stressed because that seems to be when he starts baiting me about a choice I made centuries ago."

Sighing softly, he dropped his eyes. "I miss her too. But both that choice and her death where a long time ago."

Elrohir growled quietly at that, "They are, but every time this happens I feel like he's still letting me have it for turning you.  And it's nothing against you.  He likes you more than he did then by several light years."

"As all do due to my charming personality," Elladan said and shooed Elrohir into a room rather than continue the conversation in the hallway.

Elrohir waited until the door was closed behind them before turning to his brother, "You have a fantastic personality, it's true."

"Yes, as I said, I charm all those I meet," Elladan said. "It doesn't make sense for him to be angry about a decision he fundamentally agrees with," he added. "So do you think it's that or this?" he asked, hooking his fingers in Elrohir's belt loops and dragging his hips forward on his last word.

"I think it's both," Elrohir answered, honestly, going with the motion until he was pressed against his brother.

Elladan hummed, not wanting to think about living out a mortal life and dying centuries ago while his brother still lived without him. "Why both?"

"Did you ever talk to Celebrian about Elrond?" he asked, rather than respond directly.

"Hm?" Elladan asked. "In what way?"

"In the why he disapproved of us way," he answered.

"No," he admitted. "I didn't ask her. I didn't want to know."

Elrohir paused for a moment at that, "He had a twin brother.  Who'd lived a normal life and died several centuries before we even came along.  Celebrian told me she wasn't one to know all the inner-workings of Elrond's mind, but she put it down to jealousy of having each other, and some sort of fear or concern over exactly how close we were as brothers."  He shrugged, "Who knows if that's true or not, but I'm willing to chalk it up to at least partially that."

Elladan sighed, resting his head on Elrohir's shoulder. "He never struck me as the jealous type but I can't say I blame him."

Elrohir muttered something unintelligible at that, "No, I can’t blame him and it just makes me snarly because of that."

"Calm, brother," Elladan soothed, bringing his hands up to run over his hair and kissing his temple. "We all have our weaknesses."

Elrohir drew an unneeded breath, letting it out slowly as he relaxed into Elladan's touch, "You'd think I'd have figured out how to calm down quickly after a few centuries, wouldn't you?"

Elladan laughed again, still petting his hair and leaving kisses where he felt like. "Perhaps. We are creatures of habit, however."

Elrohir leaned into the touch, practically purring, "I want to ignore Arwen's demands.  Do you think I can get away with that?"

"No," Elladan said, abruptly moving away with a smirk. "Which means you shouldn't plan on getting much sleep after the morning as you're going to have to convince me to allow you to make it up to me."

Elrohir whined in the back of his throat as Elladan stepped back, "Sunset's not for another hour or so."

"Well, I'd say you can start now but then you'd lose all your progress when you leave," Elladan's mouth curled up and he dared his brother to approach him again.

"You are cruel and I will pay you back in spades when I get the chance," Elrohir replied, offering him a very slight frown, that had less bite to it when he thought of exactly why he was going out with Arwen.

"Uh-huh," Elladan agreed and leaned forward, dragging his fingertips along the line of Elrohir's jaw.

Elrohir caught his wrist, kissing and then nipping the tips of Elladan's fingers.

Elladan's eyes darkened. "Of course, you're welcome to try. I'd never dissuade you of anything."

He let one of his brother's long fingers slip into his mouth before he drew back, taking a step toward the door, "No, you're right.  It's too much effort to have to do the entire work over again."

Elladan's laugh sounded a shade more strained than it had. "And what a waste that would be."

Elrohir's lips curled, his tone dropping to a purr, "Precisely."

"Then I suppose I'll have to find something to while away the hours," Elladan said.

"Good luck.  I'll see you when we're done."

Elladan huffed out a breath, unsure that he'd meant their game to end so soon at that point and nodded. "Of course. Try not to die shopping."

"Who knows, I may even enjoy it," his brother said with a grin.

Elladan looked like it might take him a while to believe that but he nodded. "If you say so."

Elrohir paused, offering his brother a smirk before reaching for him and reeling him in for a demanding kiss before stepping away.

Elladan's eyes looked glazed when he shook his head. "You're going to have to be inventive then that."

"Oh I'm well aware.  I have hours to develop a way to make it up to you, after all.  You know I don't lack from inventiveness when it's required of me."

“I look forward to it," Elladan said, mouth centimeters away from Elrohir and his head tilted before sweeping past him and out the door. Elrohir sighed, watching him go and reminding himself forcefully that the suit was worth missing part of a night.

-0-

Fili sat on the couch, watching Nori and Ori try and play chess, except they were bickering over legal moves so much that very few of the pieces had actually moved. One hand idly traced the bandages still on the other, trying not to let his mind wonder to Bofur, and the way each kiss seemed to escalate until he wasn't sure how he was supposed to walk away and pretend everything was functional and he didn't want to melt into a puddle of sexual frustration.

Except when he wasn't thinking about that he was thinking about Kili and he couldn't tell which was worse.

Bofur entered the room, almost freezing when he saw Fili but he forced himself to keep moving and sat down in a chair nearby, his hand withdrawing a block of wood that was taking shape into something unrelated to hunting and a knife.  His lips curved into an almost shy smile when he glanced at Fili, which was a ridiculous response he told himself.  They were currently at a stand still, but they had to be able to interact like normal functioning adults, and they could.  In theory.  Even in front of other people.  In theory.

Looking at him, Fili blushed and snapped his eyes out the window. Ori had the luck to glance over at that moment and he knocked over a chess piece.

"What was that for?" Nori asked.

"Nothing," Ori said, wanting to roll his eyes and just bending to pick it up instead.

Bofur startled at the sound and glanced toward Ori, offering him a long look and a shake of his head, though his gaze drifted back to Fili in relatively short order. Fili tried to continue looking out the window instead of over at him, fingers still moving over the bandages.

"Is there a reason you two are being so quiet?" Nori asked after a moment, looking between them. "God, Bofur, it's just weird you sitting there quietly."

Bofur startled very slightly again, looking at Nori, "Things on my mind, is all.  You're attempting to play chess, which I can't say is all that normal to see either."

"That's apparently what little brothers are for," Nori sighed. "Pestering us into doing things."

"That implies he only does that to you and Dori," Bofur replied, offering a glance to Ori before his gaze flickered to Fili and he tried to find a topic that didn't involve siblings.

Ori just laughed. "I'm sorry Bofur, did I ever pester you into doing something?"

"No, just a lot of meaningful looks and several speeches on why I was pathetic in my actions," Bofur replied with a smile, turning his attention back to his carving.

"What were you being pathetic about?" Nori asked, trying to move one of his knights boldly and promptly having it taken off the board by Ori's queen.

Bofur offered him a wide-eyed look at that, "I'm not sure I actually remember.  I just recall Ori's response."

Nori laughed, willing to allow that. "He is rather dramatic, isn't he?"

"Don't make me take your queen dramatically," Ori shot back over the chess board.

"Sometimes," Bofur answered with a grin before letting the knife in his hand curve along the shape that was forming.  He could almost see what it was going to be, though he wasn't quite sure.

"So what are you working on, or do you know yet?" Nori asked and Fili's attention went over to the block of wood, curious himself.

"Not quite sure yet, though I think it's an animal of some sort this time," Bofur answered, sensing Fili's gaze and keeping his own on the grain of the wood.

For a moment Fili watched his hands and the knife running over the wood and felt frustration again. He quickly looked out the window. Bofur's knife hesitated at that, but he simply kept his attention focused on his work.  He spoke after a long moment, the question directed to Fili, "How, how's your hand doing?"

Startling slightly, Fili looked back at him. "Huh? Oh, it's fine," he said. "I mean, it's healing. However slowly."

He glanced up, briefly meeting Fili's eyes as he nodded, "But it's healing."  He floundered trying to find anything else to say, but his mind was scrambled by Fili on the best days and this was not one of those.

Nori glanced up and looked between them. "Did I miss something?"

Bofur blinked twice and then looked at Nori, "What?"

"You two are acting downright odd," he said and Ori tried to keep a straight face.

"Don't know what you mean," Bofur replied, but considered the merits of a retreat.

"Uh-huh," Nori said, clearly not believing him.

Bofur shrugged, not inclined to give more information than that as he swept the wood shavings from his craving together.

Dis entered the room, arching an eyebrow as she considered the occupants before crossing to a chair in the corner and picking up a book.

Watching her, Fili almost blushed just at the thought of her and Bofur in the same room. He shifted slightly, moving to side sideways on the couch and pull his legs up. His mother glanced over the top of her book at him, but didn't say anything as Bofur seemed to curl further in on himself and his carving.

"How are you today?" Ori asked, glancing from time to time between Fili and Bofur and wondering if them together had made anything better or not.

Dis offered him a faint smile, "As well as I can be.  Yourself?"

"Well, you know," he shrugged. "Winning at chess."

"It's not fair," Nori whined. "You know this game so much better than I do."

"Yet, you agreed to play him knowing that," Dis said, a hint of amusement in her tone.

"I point to incessant pestering," Nori said, never liking to admit the weakness he had for his little brother with his big eyes and knitwear. Even if he was a pest.

"And I'm sure that's all it was," she drawled in reply.

"Of course," he said, "What else could it possibly have been?"

With his mother distracted, Fili glanced over at Bofur again, watching him.

"I would never presume to know your mind, Nori," Dis replied, cutting a brief glance toward her son and pausing for the briefest of moments when she saw Bofur look up and come very close to blushing.

"Good," Nori said and groaned as his bishop went under Ori's queen. "Are you really sure that piece can do that?" he asked.

Dis returned her attention to the two brothers and their game, smiling a ghost of a smile, "You really are out of your league at chess, aren’t you, Nori?"

"I would whip your ass at poker," Nori informed Ori, which just made him laugh.

On the other side of the room, Fili rose, finally done with sitting there brooding. "You know," he said, approaching Bofur. "I've seen you carving a lot. I'm not sure I've ever seen many of your finished works."

Bofur blinked up at him, hands stilling, "I don't usually keep them once they're finished.  They're not really much, anyhow."

"So you really wouldn't happen to have any to show me?" Fili asked, trying to keep his tone interested instead of flirtatious.

Bofur cleared his throat, finding it suddenly very dry, "I, well, I might have a couple.  I haven't found anyone to give them to, or anywhere either."

"You give them away?" Fili asked.

He nodded, "Sometimes to people I know, sometimes to people I don't.  Sometimes I'll just leave them set out and hope someone likes the look of them."  He ran a hand over the back of his neck, "They're mostly just something to, well to keep my hands busy, so I've made more than I have use for.  Not like they do much besides collect dust."

"Still," Fili said, hoping he'd catch the hint for both of them to leave the room.

Bofur paused, closing his knife and rising, "Would, would you like to take a look at the ones I've got?"

"Please," Fili said and Ori looked like he might suffocate, trying not to laugh. He started moving pieces just to give himself something to do.

Dis watched them quietly over the top of her book as Bofur nodded slightly, bid the others a good day and slipped out of the room. Fili followed him closely. Ori just rubbed a hand over his eyes as Nori frowned.

Dis spoke quietly, "Well, that was interesting."

"Anyone with ideas what just happened?" Nori asked. "Last time I looked Fili didn't get along with anyone, let alone him."

"I'm beginning to have my suspicions," Dis replied.  "But no, no actual ideas."

"I get along with him," Ori protested. "But it's good, I think."

Dis nodded very slightly, "I think you're right, Ori.  I think it could be a good thing."

Ori blinked once and realized he shouldn't have drawn attention to himself. "Check mate," he declared instead and Nori frowned at the board before he finally conceded it.

Dis' lips curled upward at that and she returned her attention to her book, musing over what she'd seen and what had been said.

Once they left the room, Bofur glanced at Fili, "Do you actually want to see the carvings, or did you just want to leave the room?"

"I would like to see them," he said, shifting his shoulders slightly. "But I did want to get out of that room too."

That earned a faint quirk of Bofur's lips, "Well, come on up then, they're in my room."

Fili seemed to stumble slightly at that. "Are you sure about it then?" he asked.

The other hesitated, "What?  I... what?"

"Your bed... room," Fili said. "Are you certain you want me in there?" He would not allow Bofur into his own room yet, with Kili’s things still strewn across it.

Bofur felt his face heat at that, "Well, I, that is.  I wouldn't mind.  If you'd, if you'd rather not I can just as easily bring them out."

"It's fine," he said. "I just wouldn't want to invade on your privacy."

That earned him a gentle smile, "I asked you to come up, so it's alright."  They had reached the door by then and Bofur unlocked it, stepping inside.

Fili hesitated another moment before stepping inside, looking around quickly.

It was sparsely furnished, the bed looking completely untouched while the small couch that Bofur had managed to maneuver in had a couple of blankets folded at one end haphazardly.  He motioned to the couch, "Sit down if you like."  He looked around trying to remember where he'd put the carvings before going to dig through an old dresser that had seen far better days, finally coming up with a shoebox.

Fili moved through the room, not actually sitting down at first, eyes tracking to the bed and frowning slightly before he sat. "Where do you sleep?"

"What do you mean?" Bofur asked, moving over and settling next to the couch rather than on it and opening the box to offer it to Fili.

"Unless you did laundry today, that bed's not been slept in," Fili said, accepting the box.

"I don't much like beds.  But it was here and seemed more trouble to move it out than it was worth," he said, not answering the question.

"What did beds ever do to you?" Fili asked, setting the box on his lap and seeming to consider.

Bofur shrugged, "They're too open, usually too soft, and all in all too large."

Looking from the box to Bofur, Fili considered him. "Too large?" he asked, accepting the soft and open with relative ease.

"There's too much space in a bed that people expect an adult to use.  There's..." he shook his head, "It's not something I can explain.  It just is."

"Is it too large or too empty?" Fili asked, finally opening the box and shifting through the carvings.

"Both?" Bofur offered, shrugging.  "I've just never really gotten used to beds in general."

Fili looked down again. "These are beautiful," he said, finally taking a long look at some of them.

That earned an incredulous eyebrow, but Bofur accepted the compliment, "Thank you."

Fili picked up one of a small dragon, holding it toward Bofur. "This one," he said. "I'm not just saying they're beautiful."

Bofur gently took the carving.  He remembered that one, it had been one he'd worked on for a lot longer than he usually spent, the scales carved out and the wings folded near enough to the spine of the beast that they wouldn't break off.  He ran calloused fingers over the finished wood and tried to see it through eyes that didn't see where the knife had slipped while he was curving the tail, or where the sanding had been too thorough and had blurred the scales on the left side.  He had to admit it wasn't a bad carving when viewed that way, "But they're not of much use, are they?"

Fili's eyes dropped. "But not everything has to be useful, not all the time."

That earned an almost rueful smile, "No, not always.  If usefulness was a judgment of whether something should be kept around I'd probably have been out on my ear a long time ago."

Fili glanced over, not quite contradicting him yet. "But sometimes beauty is its own use."

Bofur kept his gaze focused on the dragon in his hands, "It can be, yes.  And not a bad one, either."

"You find a use creating them, don't you?" Fili asked quietly.

Bofur nodded at that, "They keep my hands busy and give me something to focus on."

Fili thought about how much he was brooding, alternatively about Kili and Bofur. "Is there anything else you might recommend for that? Focus, I mean."

Bofur looked up at him, considering, "I guess it depends on what you like to do.  I like to have something that I can create.  And I haven't ever found anything else I can do like I can carve.

"I just," he paused and glanced sideways. "Having something to take my mind off things sounds... It would be nice."

"Well," Bofur thought for a moment, "You could always try it.  Carving I mean, or, well, there's any number of other things.  Like I said, this just happened to be what I'm able to do."

"How good of a teacher are you?" Fili asked with a faint smile.

That earned a wry grin, "You could probably find better, but I can give it a try."

"I'd like that," Fili said, running his fingers along the dragon carving again.

Bofur pushed himself to his feet, "Give me a minute, I may have a spare knife and some wood around here."  He glanced at Fili for a moment, "You can keep the dragon if you like."

Fili startled, almost dropping the figurine. "Are, are you sure?"

The other glanced at Fili from where he was digging under the bed.  He nodded, "Yes, I'm sure."

"Thank you," Fili said, watching him closely.

He nodded again, glancing away and finally pulling a box from under the bed and finding a block of wood that was easier to start on than some of the other scraps he had.  He rifled around and finally found his spare knife--he kept them both equally sharp--before pushing the box back into place and returning to Fili's side.

"So do you sleep on the couch then?" Fili asked, probably stupidly.

Bofur paused and blinked for a moment, but nodded, "Yes."

Swallowing, Fili shifted closer. "The other day, I said that I wasn't sure but I wanted to try this."

The brunet watched him, almost warily, but nodded again, "You, you did."

Fili looked down, still turning the dragon around in his hand that was without bandages. "I've had some time to think about it," he said. "You surprise me. A lot."

"Well, I, I surprised myself," Bofur admitted.  "Have, have you figured out what you think about it?"

"I don't think try is quite the right word anymore," he said. "But I'd like to keep going." He smiled faintly. "And you're getting better at talking. It would be a shame to stop your practice now."

Bofur grinned at that, "I'd like that too.  Very much."

"Good," Fili said with an almost shy smile.

Hesitating before he set down the things in his hands, Bofur leaned over and kissed Fili gently. Fili leaned forward, shifting so that he kept the dragon carving in his lap as he pressed closer.

Bofur's hand came up to rest on Fili's cheek as he tilted his head to change the angle of the kiss ever so slightly. Making a tiny sound, Fili shifted forward. He fumbled the dragon carving back onto the table without breaking the kiss. Whatever he had with Bofur still felt fragile enough that he didn't want to show disrespect to something he had created and then given to him.

Leaning further into the kiss, Bofur drew back after a moment to catch his breath, resting his forehead against Fili's.

Fili grinned and run one of his hands down Bofur's side. Bofur's breath stuttered at that and he offered Fili an unsteady smile.

Leaning forward, Fili kissed that smile, draping the hurt hand over Bofur's shoulder, the other sliding around his hips. Bofur made a soft sound in the back of his throat, pressing closer to Fili and being careful of his injured hand.

"You don't have to be quite so careful, you know," Fili said.

Bofur offered him another smile, "You're sure about this?"

"About which part?" Fili asked, watching him and not moving one way or the other.

"Us."

Tilting his head, Fili drew back. "As much as I can be," he said finally. "Am I positive this is going to work out or that this is a good idea? No. But you're... kind and good at this kissing thing and I'm sure that I want to try."

Bofur laughed at that, nodding very slightly before leaning in a kissing Fili again, the hesitation gone from his motions. Fili grinned into the kiss, shifting forward so that he was almost sitting in Bofur's lap. Bofur moaned at that, arm wrapping around Fili's waist to pull him closer.

Wiggling forward, Fili rested his legs on either side of Bofur's, bracing himself against his chest. "I did honestly want to see the carvings," he managed. "But I can't honestly say they've been the only thing on my mind."

Breath catching at that, Bofur let his hand trace up Fili's back as he  leaned up to kiss the other man's jaw line, "Really now?"

"Well especially not since hearing you sleep on the couch," Fili said, tilting his jaw.

Bofur chuckled against his skin at that, "Why then?"

He drew back slightly to look at him. "You're joking, right?"

"Mostly, yes," Bofur answered with a grin.

Fili groaned, shaking his head. "I'm really not sure I should be thinking too much about you and sleeping."

"There're worse things," Bofur said, trailing his fingers down Fili's spine.

Shivering, Fili still managed to quirk an impetuous brow. "Such as?"

"Not sure at the moment, but I'm sure there are some," Bofur answered with a grin.

"Like possibly being in what amounts to your bed and not thinking about it?" Fili asked.

That earned a bit of a laugh, "Yeah, like that."

"Well that you do not have to worry about," Fili laughed. "I've been almost incapable of thinking of other things."

Bofur offered him another smile at that, shaking his head, "You're astonishing, y'know that?"

Fili almost choked on air. "How?"

That earned him a blink, "You honestly don't know?  You're, you're loyal, you're kind, when you want to be, you're, you're gorgeous, and you, you care.  You care so much about the people around you."

"None of those things are always good things," Fili said, tone dropping slightly before he shook his head. "But it doesn't matter. Thank you."

Bofur nodded very slightly, tracing his hand over Fili's cheek, "You're welcome." Letting out a long breath, Fili shifted closer again, using one hand to guide Bofur's face into another kiss, dragging their mouths together. Arm tightening on Fili's waist, Bofur pulled him in closer, letting his lips part under the kiss.

Fili moaned into the kiss, shifting closer as suddenly a knock sounded from the door, echoing around the room. He jerked back, already trying to detangle himself by the time Thorin's voice same through the door. "Bofur, are you in there?"

Bofur muttered a curse at that, trying to straighten himself up as he called, "Just a minute."

Thorin frowned at the door. "Why?"

"Shit," Fili said, glaring slightly at Bofur. He smoothed his hair down quickly before moving over to yank the door open, Thorin's eyes widening at seeing his nephew there.

Bofur ran a hand over his face, sliding the box of carvings under the table by the couch and rising, "What is it, Thorin?"

"I was going to say we were going out tonight," he said. "Oin's been insisting that something big is coming and I want to keep my ear to the ground." He turned his gaze back to Fili. "What are you doing here?"

"Bofur was showing me his carvings," Fili said, good at going from flustered to calm from having to coax civilians away from vampire battles. "And he offered to teach me." When Thorin arched a brow at that he pressed on before he could speak. "I'm going to need to get movement back into my hand somehow. Besides, I need something to focus on."

Bofur came over to the door, nodding, "The detail work needed in some carvings is a good thing to have.  It makes it hard to focus on much else.  What time are we going out?"

"In an hour," he said, still watching Fili.

The brunet nodded again, "I'll be downstairs then."  He paused, "Is there anything else?"

"No," Thorin said but caught Fili's arm as he moved to pass. "I would like to speak to you though."

Bofur watched that exchange quietly, but inclined his head and backed up a step, not closing the door as he went to gather up the wood block, spare knife and dragon carving to let Fili have them when Thorin wasn't around.

Fili felt a curl of panic but he didn't look back at Bofur when he nodded. "Alright," he said, and finally turned around. "Good luck tonight," he said.

Bofur offered him a curl of his lips and nodded to him, "Thank you."  He closed the door most of the way, leaving it on the latch.

"You wanted to speak to me?" Fili asked, turning back to his uncle who nodded and motioned him to follow. Biting back his first reaction at that, Fili trailed after him to his office. "What is on your mind, uncle?"

Thorin hesitated but decided not to move behind his desk, leaning against it instead. "I have been too hard on you," he said, voice low and Fili's shoulders tensed. "You are the last of my bloodline and I have always expected much of you... and your brother. Now there is only you."

Tensing, Fili stared at him, waiting for him to continue. "I wish this was easier," Thorin said. "I wish your brother was still here. But I do not want to lose you too."

Eyes dropping, Fili glanced to the side before bringing his gaze back. "You aren't currently loosing me," he said, voice small. "I've not gotten myself hurt more, nor have I said anything or--"

"But next time?" Thorin asked and Fili clicked his jaw shut. "Next time you see that vampire or we fight?"

"We'll always fight," Fili said. "It's in our blood and we don't see eye to eye. But," he paused. "I am your heir, I am part of this family. I still," he swallowed, still not looking at his uncle as he continued. "And I would still rather have you proud of me than not."

"Fili," Thorin said quietly, reaching out to stoke the top of his hair. "I've always been proud of you."

Fili bit back the question of whether he had been when they were fighting about his future, or if he would be if he told him about Bofur and decided not to. Not that night. "Be careful tonight," he said instead and Thorin nodded.

-0-

Elrond was seated in his office, pouring over notes and scraps of paper, newspaper clippings from up to three hundred miles away.  They all seemed to be indicating the same thing, and it was far from comforting.  He and Celeborn had spoken before retiring that morning and he had returned to pouring over the bits of information they had as soon as he had risen.  The new moon was nearing and if ever there was a time the Gates were likely to open, that was it.  But what they could find was scant information at best, and this was not his forte.

Knocking on the doorframe, Erestor leaned against it, watching Elrond. "You look concerned."

Elrond looked up, waving Erestor in, "I'm not sure that's quite strong enough a term."

"Troubled or concerned sounds better than terrified or panicked," he said, stepping into the room.

"It usually does, though the latter two are more accurate."  He rose, crossing to a map he had pinned to the wall of the surrounding area, taking stick pins and marking the latest locations.  They were spiraling inward, and each was worse than the last.  "We've a handful of days to the next new moon, and the disasters that are arising around here are growing in number and destruction.  I don't know what's going to happen, and I'm not sure I want to, but based on this pattern?  We're going to be at its epicenter."

"And of course it will be on the New Moon," Erestor said, leaning forward and considering the map, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Isn't it always," Elrond murmured, considering his notes and adding another red pin twenty miles outside of the city.

"Usually," Erestor agreed, tilting his head. "It's making a spiral shape," he said, bringing a hand out to trace around the pins in a circle that moved closer and closer to the city. He let his hand keep moving until it stopped naturally off the shape he was making. "We might consider watching here," he said, tapping what looked like a shopping district. "If I remember, this used to be the old Little Syria, full of immigrants and workers. Now it's a mall." He drew back and let out a huff of breath. "Go figure."

Elrond picked up a pen, circling the indicated point, shaking his head, "What better place for a Gate to open than near the temple of capitalism?"

Erestor barked out a laugh. "Plenty of victims," he said. "It's open late. I know Elladan and Elrohir hunt there sometimes. Mostly when they want to make a scene of themselves."

Elrond muttered something under his breath, but nodded, "I seem to recall mention of it.  I know Arwen frequents it as well, though rarely when hunting.

"You sound like you don't approve of any of them," Erestor said, arching a brow.

"I worry about them," he responded.  "I worry about Arwen's time spent with Galadriel, I worry about Elladan and Elrohir getting in over their heads.  They're all centuries old and I still worry as though they were in their first year."

"I'm not sure Galadriel would appreciate finding herself in that sentence," Erestor said, mouth twisting. "They're all capable of taking care of themselves."

"I'm never sure how much of what I say Galadriel actually appreciates," Elrond replied, mutedly.  "And I know they are.  It doesn't actually help.”

Erestor smiled faintly, looking back at the map again. "Because you lost the one you loved more than anyone else?"

Elrond sighed, "Something like that.  Though I'm well aware I'm not the only one who suffered that sort of loss."

"What do you mean?" Erestor asked, looking over, expression blank.

Elrond offered him a long look, but shook his head, "Nothing perhaps."

Erestor scowled, breaking the smooth expression he had. He wished he could tell Elrond he had never mourned so he truly had no idea what he was talking about, but Elrond would know that was an obvious lie. Erestor had all but destroyed the house they had been living in, walls pummeled in rage and grief. "If you think I'm still missing that idiot who couldn't keep himself alive, you must update your mind," he said, turning back to the map.

"And still he's the only one I've ever seen get that particular expression on your face," Elrond replied, saying nothing further on t he subject.  "So you expect the gate to open near that mall, then?"

Erestor's eyes narrowed at him for a moment. "Yes, based on the patterns you're seeing here," he said. "At least it's a spiral and not a pentagram."

He tapped the wood of his desk automatically, "And hopefully we don't see that pattern appear at anytime."

"Hopefully," Erestor agreed. "I have some books I could look into, from the last time anyone tried to get out of the hell dimensions. Smaug is not Sauron or Melkor but from the accounts of him I could find, he likes fire. I rather do not."

"I'm not certain any of us do," Elrond replied.  "See what you can find in those books, it certainly can't hurt."

Erestor nodded. "Elladan was moping. I'll make him help."

"Because that's likely to clear the moping right up," Elrond replied, arching an eyebrow.

"Well no," Erestor smiled, the expression a faint curl of his mouth. "But it will make him appreciate not having to research afterwards so much that he will be downright cheerful by the time I let him go."

That actually garnered a faint laugh, "A fair point.  We'll see if this spiral closes in any further over the next day or two, and then it's the New Moon."

Erestor nodded. "And then we'll have to be ready, one way or another."

"And hope Smaug doesn't emerge yet," Elrond murmured, moving over to his desk and rifling through the notes again.

"I think we had lesser demons to contend with first," Erestor said. "Won't that be fun?"

"Only if we can beat them.  It's not their power I'm worried about, it's the sheer number that's likely to appear."

"Then we'll have to make sure we can close that gate down early," Erestor said, like it might actually be that simple.

"Then I suppose we had better hope there's a clue of how to do that in your books."

"If there is, we'll find it," Erestor said, sweeping out the door in the calm and controlled manner he had in moving. Elrond watched him go before returning to staring at the map, holding his left elbow with his right hand and running his free hand over his chin.  The more disastrous portents were marked in red, and they were ever circling closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VS researched proper use of Wile away the time and while away the time for this chapter.


	8. Well, that's your one understatement you're allowed this century

Suppressing another sigh, Ori bent down to better examine the bottom of the window display, trying to ignore the bright florescent lights above them. "I feel like I'm talking to a wall," Nori complained behind him.

"At least the feeling's mutual," Dori said, frostily, barely offering Nori a glance as he considered the display from a few paces behind Ori.

Nori frowned, trying to place which feeling was mutual and Ori snorted. "We're basically three walls."

"A rock, a hard place, and an immovable object," Dori suggested, not sounding like he was too upset about it, though he wasn't pleased by any means.

"So long as you've come to terms about it," Ori said, straightening.

"Well I haven't," Nori protested.

"We're none of us going to win this argument," Dori muttered, sticking his good hand into his pocket.

"I am," Ori said, determination in his voice.

"Do you really think so?" Dori asked, his eyebrows rising in a challenge.

"Yes," Ori said. "I'm younger. I have more stamina."

"Is that what you think?" Nori laughed, looking over at another one of the shops, musing that he shouldn't bother to lift anything when he was out with his brothers. If anyone caught him Ori would stare at him with wide eyes, and if Dori caught him, he'd make him put everything back.

"Don't even think about it," Dori said, cutting a glance to Nori before turning his attention to his youngest brother.  "And there's two of us to your one."

"That's true," Ori admitted, not looking happy about having to consider that fact.

"And it's the same paths of argument we've been over time and time again.  I don't know why you expect it change further," Dori added.

"Maybe I just live in hope," Ori muttered.

"Why are you so set on this?" Dori asked.

"Oh my god," Ori moaned, running his hands over his face. "I've told you a thousand times that I need to know how to defend myself. I'm not saying I'm going on rotation with Thorin or something!"

Dori pinched the bridge of his nose, looking at Nori for some form of input, "I'd have your hide myself if you did that."

Ori seemed to consider doing exactly that and Nori winced. "You're never allowed alone with Thorin," he decided and Ori just slowly arched a brow at him.

Dori nodded, "The man's insane.  Though neither of you heard it from me."

"I'm not disagreeing," Nori said.

"And yet all and any of us would follow him without a thought," Ori said quietly and Nori couldn't find a way to disagree with that either. "He's just... a bit intense for everyday life."

Dori drew a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he finally nodded, "You're right.  But that doesn't mean that everyone in the family has to become one of the hunters." He considered for a long moment, "You want just basic defensive training?"

"Yes!" Ori said, almost yelling at how much he'd been trying to say that. Several other late night shoppers glanced over at him and he ducked his chin down.

The eldest brother thought back to his conversation with Oin and Gloin.  He didn't put much stock in prophecy or portents, but if Oin was somehow right... "Alright.  We'll see about defensive training for you."

Ori grinned, not daring to mention that Dis had already taken that matter into her own hands. As much as he enjoyed that training, it felt better to have his brother's permission too. "I still don't like this," Nori grumbled, though he had never been as adamant as Dori.

"Nor do I," Dori replied.  "But I don't much like a lot of things happening right now."

Nori looked over at him and nodded, seeming to accept that. "Fine," he said. "Who do you want to train you?"

"That doesn't really matter," Ori said faintly. "Anyone, really."

"Except Thorin," Nori said quickly and Ori rolled his eyes affectionately.

"Except Thorin," Dori agreed nearly as quickly.  "We could do it, l though I doubt you're much inclined for that," he glanced at Ori.

"I wouldn't mind," he said and suddenly the entire mall seemed to rock. He threw out one hand to brace on the wall, the other grabbing Nori's arm. "What was that?" he asked, as the building erupted into screaming.

Dori caught himself on the wall, looking around frantically, "Something we need to be a long way away from."  He darted a glance at Nori, "What night is it tonight?"

"New Moon," Ori said instead and Nori nodded.

"That's usually trouble," Nori agreed and his eyes narrowed as he watched Elladan and Elrohir bolt through the crowd that was streaming away from the center of the complex. "Vampires are here."

"We've got more important things to worry about than a couple of vampires," Dori replied, even as his eyes tracked them. "They don't cause this much of a disturbance.  It's time we left, went back and let the others know what's happening.  Or at the very least that something is."

"But what is happening?" Ori asked and Nori suddenly took off after the vampires. "Shit, he wasn't supposed to do that."

“Son of a bitch, Nori!"  Dori called, but their brother was out of sight already.  He shook his head, "Whatever Oin's been on about would be my guess.  Something big, something disastrous.  But I've got a bad arm and hardly any weapons on me, we need to move."

"We're not just leaving him are we?" Ori asked in horrified shock.

Dori looked torn, but he shook his head, "How do you suggest we get him out of here?  He's gone in pursuit and with this crowd in a panic we won't find him."

"We know where he's going," Ori said and turned on his heel, taking off at a run in the same direction. Dori swore, hesitating for the briefest of moments before following Ori, shouldering past people as he went.

Ahead of the hunters, Elladan glanced over at Elrohir as they ran. "Do you remember what Erestor told us about closing the gate?"

"Vaguely," Elrohir replied.  "We need one of the bastards coming through it to complete the ritual don't we?"

"Yeah," he said, glad he didn't have to breath but he winced at the screams coming from the human shoppers as they ran amok. "Galadriel should be there soon."

"Good, I don't want to have to do this on our own," Elrohir said, scooping up a child in his way and handing it off to a woman looking frantically for the little girl, barely breaking his step as he did so.

"We get the demon killed, she does the actual closing," Elladan said. "I hope. Because I'm not sure I could pull of the later." Finally they reached the epicenter, a giant pit opened in the ground, the sides glowing red. "Well, Erestor was right and they are not kidding about the gate to hell."

"First trick, avoiding falling into that.  Second, finding a demon we can actually keep hold of and keep alive long enough for her to get here for the closing," Elrohir said, looking around and weighing their options.

"Well, I'm glad we're more than a one trick pony team," Elladan said, scanning the room and the demons streaming from the portal. "How long has it been since it opened and we got here?"

Elrohir glanced at his watch, "We got here about fifteen minutes ago, I think the panic started about five and a half.  I do not want to think about how many of those got through in that time."  His gaze swept around and he spotted a smallish demon, "Think we could keep hold of that one without bringing the rest on our heads?"

"Yeah," Elladan said, taking a step forward and nearly stumbling as he thought he saw something else slip from the portal. "Let's get it," he said, not noticing Nori at the brink of the foyer, eyes wide as he watched the demons.

Elrohir nodded, moving at the same instant his brother did, working with him to quickly and quietly grab and subdue the demon, "If she doesn't hurry up this city's going to be completely overrun."

Elladan snarled at the demon, something slimy with more eyes than was sensible, which were all looking at him with hate. He snapped his gaze up, grinning when he saw Galadriel step forward, blood smeared on one cheek from a foolish demon who'd attacked her on the way in, hair still perfectly coiled behind her head. "And there the lady is."

"Good," Elrohir said, offering the demon they were holding a smile that was all teeth.  "You get to do us all a big favor now, fella."

The demon started struggling as the twins dragged it around the lip of the portal toward Galadriel. She nodded once to them, raising her hands and ignoring the chaos around them as she preformed the ritual Erestor had coached them all on.

As she reached the right point, Elrohir pulled out the long dagger they'd been given and used the serrated edge to rip out the demon's throat, releasing it at the same instant as Elladan and letting it tumble into the abyss as a final sacrifice and lock.

Suddenly the entire building shook again and a burst of power ran down the portal, destroying any demons trying to crawl out. The stones returned to their normal grey color and for all anyone knew, it was just a hole in the ground. "That was easy enough," Elladan said and ignored the look Galadriel gave her. "Accounting, of course, for the fact we have no idea what got out while we were still trying to get here."

"A whole lot more than you're probably going to want to contemplate," A voice came from behind them, rough with what could have been hours or years of disuse.

Both the twins turned at the same time, Galadriel seeming to float as she swiveled around. All of them paused a long beat in surprise. "I really don't want to contemplate," Elladan said, catching his voice first.

The man standing before them had long blond hair that swept down past his shoulders, though it was tangled and there was blood on his hands--more black than red--his clothes were tattered and his eyes exhausted, but a fire burned in their depths.  His lips curled up very faintly, and his gaze flicked to Galadriel before he offered a deep bow, that was a little off-balance, "My lady."

"I think it's been a few centuries," she said quietly, voice level though her hands shook slightly and she folded them together in front of her. "It's good to see you again, Glorfindel."

"Only a few centuries?" He asked quietly, shaking his head as he looked around, "A lot's changed."  His sharp eyes darted to Elladan and Elrohir and his lips curved upward again, "Some things less than others."

"I really hope that's complimentary," Elladan said, unable to stop the first thing that came to his head. "Erestor is going to be so pissed."

Elrohir finally managed to get his voice working again, "Well, that's your one understatement you're allowed this century." 

Glorfindel snorted in amusement, "There's not much more to be done here, now that you've closed the portal."  He paused, "Might it be possible for a long lost vampire to find a place to clean himself up a bit before facing a scholar's wrath?"

Galadriel glanced once at the twins, accepting their way of coping with surprise before inclining her head. "I'm sure we'll find you something." She turned again and saw Nori standing at the doorway, still staring in dumb shock at the closed portal, Ori behind his shoulder and clinging.

Glorfindel followed her gaze, tensing, but not moving more than that as Dori reached his brother's sides, "I see the hunters are still active."

"Quite," she agreed, Ori actually taking a step away from his brother and toward the vampires, though Nori quickly jerked him backward.

"We should just go," Elladan said and then realized that the demons had torn down the entrance behind them in their mad orgy to reach the world.

Glorfindel arched an eyebrow at the rubble, "I assume there's another exit?" 

Elrohir nodded toward the doorway where the trio of brothers were, "through there are several." 

The blond vampire nodded once, taking a step or two in that direction, "Then it would be best to find one before the sun rises."

Nori tensed as they approached, shoving Ori behind him again and ignoring his quiet protests that they closed the portal in ways they never could have. Instead, he snapped out two of his knives, holding them in front of himself and Ori.

Glorfindel offered him an unimpressed look at that, his voice cold as a winter wind when he finally spoke, "I just fought my way out of Hell, hunter, do you honestly believe that you will stop me with those?  I have no desire for further violence this night.  I seek only a comb and a tub of hot water which you are currently keeping me from."

Nori hesitated, taking a half shuffling step back, making sure to keep Ori behind him.

Dori's hand strayed close to where he kept a spare stake and Glorfindel fixed him with a look as well, "It's difficult to do much with two broken arms.  I do not suggest it."

Elladan watched the hunters and his eyes widened when they all moved back. "Guess no one can argue with that," he said under his breath as Galadriel swept past the trio.

Elrohir hesitated for the briefest moment before following Galadriel, Glorfindel bringing up the rear and arching an eyebrow at Ori before moving on. Shivering slightly, Ori tried to huddle down, unable to place what such a look might mean.

Dori waited until the vampires were out of sight before murmuring, "We need to go before something more happens."

"I'm good with that," Ori said and Nori nodded quickly.

-0-

Nori banged the door to the mansion open, startling Fili and Gimili from where they were playing checkers to pass the night while they waited for Bofur and Oin to come back from patrol. Thorin had already returned and was in his office. "What is it?" Fili asked, pushing himself to his feet. "I thought you were just going shopping tonight, why come into the main house...?"

"We need to get everyone together," Nori said, Ori still hovering close behind him. "Especially Thorin."

Dori nodded his agreement with Nori, which in itself was remarkable, "This is more than we've ever been prepared for."

Dis appeared at the top of the stairs, pausing to rap on her brother’s office door before approaching, "What on earth are you talking about?"

"We," Nori shook his head. "I'd rather not make this report more than once."

"I think I need to sit down," Ori said, wavering slightly and Nori caught him around the waist and deposited him on the couch.

Dori moved to lean against the wall by the couch as Dis arched an eyebrow but nodded, "Must be quite the report." Ori quickly bit back what might have been hysterical laughter and Nori just nodded as more and more of the hunters filed into the room.

"What is it?" Thorin demanded.

Dori glanced around and saw that most everyone was there.  This would have been easier with Oin there to back them up he realized belatedly, but he finally answered, "I'm pretty certain we just saw the Gates of Hell open up."

Thorin frowned and Gloin carefully arched his brows at Dori, deciding against asking him if he believed _now_. "What?" Thorin managed and Nori started pacing.

"There was a hole in the ground, it was glowing red, and demons were pouring out of it. I think it was the gate of hell, or a gate of hell anyway," he said.

"Tonight's the new moon," Ori added.

Dis paled, though her expression was guarded, "It would certainly be the night to do something like this.  And Oin's been talking about portents again.  Is it still open?"

The eldest of the brothers paused before shaking his head, "No.  It was closed."

"The vampires closed it," Ori said quietly, sure neither of his brothers wanted to mention the fact. "And... and I think one of them came out of it but they were as surprised by anyone by that but... they were there and they closed it."

Dis frowned at that, "Why were they there in the first place?"

"It was the mall," Dori answered, implying that they could have been hunting.  "But they seemed to be there to close it, not anything else."

"They knew exactly what to do," Ori said, still speaking quietly. "They didn't have any blood on them or signs of feeding and they left the mall to go home... afterwards. I don't think they were there hunting."

"Seems strange behavior," Dis murmured.  "How long had it been open, do you think?"

"Six minutes, maybe seven," Ori said and Nori nodded. "They got it closed pretty fast."

"But we don't know what got out in the meantime," Nori said. "Closing it seemed to kill most of the demons in the room but... the thing that wanted to get out probably got out in the first wave."

Ori frowned, remembering the way Elladan and Elrohir had been running. "I think they expected it to open," he said and Thorin turned his frown on him. "Because they looked like they were late."

"Then why weren't they waiting?"  Dis asked, her eyebrows rising.

Dori shook his head, "It wasn't too long after sundown, they likely couldn't get there sooner.  But they've been around long enough to see the same signs as Oin has been, possibly even more.  It would make sense that they would know."

"It could have been early," Ori added.

"Why would vampires close down a hell portal?" Thorin rumbled, finally speaking from where he had been quiet and both Ori and Gimli shifted slightly in uncertainty.

Dis considered the question before answering, "Well, they have a reason to want the world to survive, even if it's only to keep feeding after all."

Ori looked down and Thorin seemed to accept that as the best answer. "Then we need to know what got out," he said and Fili's hands tensed in his lap, wanting Bofur to get home _now_ , instead of being out where demons were.

"That's going to be a tall order," Dis said.  "They could be scattered to the four winds for all we know."

The front door opened, Bofur and Oin pausing as they saw the others, Bofur closing and locking the door behind them, "What...?"

Fili's breath caught and he let it out carefully, hoping it hadn't been obvious.

Turning, Nori smiled to see the other's back safely. "A portal opened tonight," he said. "At the mall. Vampires closed it but we have no idea what sorts of demons got out of it."

Oin swore mutedly at that, "Probably far more than we're able to deal with."

"The vampires seem willing to help," Ori said and Gimli elbowed him in the side as Throin turned a dark expression over to him.

Dis' eyes narrowed at that suggestion, "In order to have more prey by the end of it."

"And we're going to do this alone, how?" Ori asked and Gimli considered slamming a hand over his mouth to keep him from talking.

Dori offered his brother a glance and a shake of his head, which he was pretty certain would be ignored.  Dis, at the same time, frowned, "We'll speak more about it later.  See if there are any other ways."

"Oin, Dori, I suspect you're both capable of finding research," Thorin said. "Figure out exactly what that portal is and what it means, and what we can do. Tomorrow, I'll see if the librarian knows anything."

"The librarian?" Nori asked, looking over in surprise.

Oin and Dori nodded, Dori taking a guess about the librarian, "He has a section on the occult in the back area.  I'd hazard that he knows more than he lets on."

"He does," Thorin said. "He knows about vampires and he knows we're hunters."

"How did he find that out?" Nori yelped, and even Bifur looked concerned from where he stood in the corner.

Balin spoke from where he'd held his peace in the corner of the room, "I'm not sure that much matters.  What matters is that he does know.  There’s more to Mr. Baggins than one might guess."  He looked to Thorin, "But young Ori's right.  We'll not be able to do this on our own."

Thorin folded his arms over his chest. "We will find a way," he ground out.

"And if we can't?" Balin asked quietly.

"We will find a way," Thorin ground out again and even Nori shrank back slightly from the anger there.

"We could try and contact Dain," Fili said quietly but Thorin shook his head.

"He has his own problems," he said. "He would not come to our help."

Ori glanced around the room. "I don't know about you, but this is sounding downright apocalyptic. This might become _everyone's_ problem."

"The last time a gate of hell opened, that we have record of was in Durin's time," Balin agreed.  "We might at least try contacting Dain."

Thorin sighed. "I will try," he conceded finally.

"And until we hear from him?"  Dis asked quietly.

Dori spoke, "Oin and I will look into what we can find.  And perhaps as Thorin says, Mr. Baggins will know something."

Thorin nodded. "We will find what we can," he said.

The meeting started to break up, Ori heading out to the gatehouse and ignoring both his brothers following after him. Thorin returned to his office and no one commented on the fact that Fili and Bofur seemed to be heading for the same place, though Bifur frowned after them.

Once most of the room was empty, Gimli slipped upstairs, moving to the attic that was rarely used. He slipped out of the window onto the steepled roof, propping his back against the window so he could see if any creature was coming at him in the night. Once he settled, he pulled out his phone, hitting the familiar number he never had actually programmed in.

Just before it would have gone to voicemail, it was answered, Legolas' voice sounding strained, "Hello?"

"Tonight seems like it's been a busy night," Gimli said, unable to stop the relief in his voice. The others had of course never said which vampires they'd seen.

"You haven't been out in it have you?" His tone held a note of concern as he closed a door between himself and the rest of the household.

"No," Gimli said, and the closed door interrupted Thranduil's glare after his childe. "No I was playing checkers most of the night. Have _you_?"

"No, no unless we were part of the sealing we were all staying in," Legolas assured.

"So you were planning on closing that portal," he said. "You knew it was coming."

"We did.  They were a few hours earlier than expected.  Usually rituals like that happen at midnight.  Best time for it, supposedly," he answered, locking the door and crossing the room to sit down against the far wall, resting his forehead against his knees.

"Ori said they looked late," Gimli said. "No one believed him."

"They managed it, but the hope had been to close it as it opened and save all the trouble that it's going to be now."

"Maybe the demons know that," Gimili said. "And planned to get out early. But your people... you were trying to close down the portal?"

Legolas paused at that, frowning, "Is that so surprising?"

"To a lot of us, yeah," Gimli said.

"We like this world.  Hell is, well it's not all that much nicer for us than it would be for you lot from what I've heard," Legolas murmured.

"Ori said," Gimli started and almost winced. "Alright, apparently Ori was the only one to pay attention. And he was saying that it looked like a vampire came out of portal."

Legolas paused for a long moment before nodding, "Yes.  Yes, we, well I've never met him before, but apparently they thought he was dead for nearly three hundred years."

Gimli blinked. "That's a long time in hell," he managed.

"He seems surprised that it was so short for us," Legolas murmured, barely audible.

"Is he... is he alright?" Gimli asked.

"I think so?  Like I said, he was before my time.  But he's alive, or as alive as we ever are.  He locked himself in one of the bathrooms as soon as they got back and is trying to untangle his hair and clean up.  There's something about his eyes that makes me nervous, but I don't know if that's new or if he's always been like that," Legolas answered.  "I don't think anyone would be, well, entirely alright after that though."

"I..." Gimli swallowed. "Don't get yourself lost in a hell dimension, alright?"

"I am going to do everything I can to avoid it.  Keep, keep yourself breathing, yeah?"

"I can promise I'll try," Gimli said. "But what's going on? Really? We don't know and we're flying blind."

"Smaug, a very old demon who likes fire is trying to rise.  This, this was just the first wave.  If he does rise and no one's able to stop him?  Well, the world's as good as gone," the vampire murmured.  He paused, "What are the chances of some sort of truce with your lot?"

Gimli stopped breathing for a long moment. "You killed Kili," he said finally. "Thorin's not sensible at the best of times."

Legolas let his head fall back against the wall, "Fuck."

"I mean, the world is ending," Gimli said. "He'll have to come around. I mean... Ori's already all but come around but we're the young ones, no one listens to us."

"No one at all?"  Legolas paused, processing what he'd said before deciding that was probably a fair assessment of how he felt when talking to his sire as well, "I hope he comes around sooner than later, but that's probably a vain hope, isn't it?"

"Probably," Gimli said. "I'm just worried it's going to take a disaster to change his mind."

The vampire felt his throat close at that thought and it took him a long time to speak again, "Stay alive.  Just, just do that, please."

"I'll try," he said softly. "Mostly I've been playing babysitter for Fili though, with his broken hand."

Legolas stilled completely at that, "He broke his hand?  How?"

"Kili broke it," he said and then paused. "Wait, you should have known that."

"Kili did _what_?"  Legolas nearly snarled.

"He... he confronted Fili and Thorin and Bofur," he said quietly. "Broke Fili's hand and Fili couldn't kill him."

"That fucking idiot what was he thinking?  He's lucky no one around here knew," Legolas muttered.

"Why?" Gimli asked.

"Because Celeborn and Galadriel made it clear that going anywhere near you lot was completely off limits.  And Kili's already on thin ice simply for being who he is.  Celeborn doesn't like him, and with him being turned we're having more trouble.  He'd be dust if they knew."

"Then don't tell them," Gimli said quickly and then spared a moment for shock at himself. He couldn't tell if it would be easier or harder to hear the vampire was dead.

Legolas sighed, finding himself caught between the fact that he didn't like Kili and was pretty sure he loathed him in fact, and the fact that he didn't want to see him dusted, "I won't.  Hell, I don't even know what would happen if _this_ came to light."

"Then don't let it," Gimli said. "Please, don't let it. Just not right now."

Swallowing hard, he nodded before answering, "I won't."

"God," Gimli managed after a moment. "What's going to happen? You said the world was ending?"

“It's, it's a very real probability," Legolas murmured.  "If we can't stop it, I mean."

"What do we need to do to stop it?" Gimli asked.

"We're still trying to figure that out exactly.  We don't know how many are here now, we can't face Smaug on our own when he eventually appears," his voice was strained.

Gimli let out a breath. "Do you want us to work together?" he asked.

"Yes," he answered without hesitation.  "That much I do know."

"Why?" Gimli asked, desperate to know as his stomach twisted up into knots of fear.

"Because we can't do this alone, and, well I like this world.  I'd like it to stick around for a while longer."

"Of course," Gimli said, tilting his head back and looking at the stars above him. "I'm sure we'd all like that."

Legolas let his eyes fall closed, speaking softly, "I'd like more time with you too, on a far more selfish level."

Gimli let out a breath he hadn't been aware he'd been holding, the sound obvious through the phone line. "Okay," he said quietly.

Opening his eyes and letting them drift to the door, Legolas sighed quietly, "I, I really ought to go.  My sire was giving me a look that said we'd be having words and I should probably not put that off."

"I haven't seen you," Gimli said suddenly. "Since that night."

"We've had to go out in pairs," Legolas replied.  He paused for a long moment, "Do you want to see me?"

"Yes," he said, too sudden to make it sound like anything but needy and he winced, though no one could see him.

That earned a faint, unseen smile, "Elladan and Elrohir are aware of us, I might be able to go out with them.  But would you be able to get away is the question."

"I'll see what I can find," Gimli said. "There's something I have to be able to find that would get me out."

"Well, you have my number when you figure it out.  Just give me warning enough that I can ask the twins, alright?" he said, darting the occasional glance at the door as though expecting someone to knock on it at any moment.

"Alright," Gimli said. "Alright. Be careful."

"And you.  Be, be so very careful," Legolas replied.  "I will talk to you later."

"Good night," Gimli said, snapping the phone shut and holding it to his chest for a while before climbing back inside.

Legolas stared at the phone in his hand for a long moment before erasing his call history and making certain any text messages were gone as well with a pang of regret.  He finally pushed himself to his feet and exited the room again.

-0-

Elladan glanced over at where Elrohir had a stack of books he was moving from one shelf to the next. "We were supposed to be telling Erestor."

Elrohir frowned at the books as he put them in the right order for the new organization, "So you want to be the one to tell him Glorfindel isn't dead, but is in fact taking a long bath to get the grime of hell off his skin?"

"Well, no," Elladan said, remembering three hundred years ago when Erestor had torn apart practically their entire home and then smoothed his hair back and said it didn't matter that Glordindel had fallen with the rest of Gondolin. It didn't matter that that entire household had fallen to the demons.

"So you're asking me if I want to be?  How kind, brother."

"You're the elder now," Elladan said in a sing song voice.

"Which is why, as the elder, I elect for you to do it," he answered with a smile.  "Besides, he likes you better."

"Which is a status I'd like to keep," Elladan said, shoving a book into its spot. "Whereas you have less to lose."

"Besides my skin," Elrohir replied.  "I happen to like my skin."

"I'm sure he wouldn't touch your skin," Elladan offered as the door opened, Erestor stepping in.

"What are you doing to my books?" he asked.

"Making it so someone other than you can find something in here," Elrohir answered, frowning at the name of the author for the book in his left hand before sliding it into place.

"I'm certain," Erestor said, stepping in further and Elladan actually shifted closer to his brother's shoulder.

"Why else would we be reordering the book?"  Elrohir asked, offering an almost innocent look as he picked another half dozen off one shelf to move them to a different corner of the room entirely.

Elladan almost elbowed his brother in the ribs for being flippant. "Well, actually, there was something we should... mention..." he said and trailed off when Erestor looked over at him, waiting for him to continue.

Elrohir reshelved the books, studiously not looking at Erestor as he continued, "We have a new guest.  Or rather an old guest who's come back.  He's in the upstairs bathroom, last I checked."

Erestor looked over at him. "What on earth are you babbling about?"

"Glorfindel," Elladan managed and Erestor's eyes snapped over. "He's, um, upstairs."

Elrohir finally looked toward the older vampire, "He fought his way out of hell and came through the portal."

Staring at them a moment longer, Erestor turned and slammed the door behind him. He only got three steps toward the upstairs bathroom when he seemed to think better of it and stormed back into the library. "Get out," he informed the twins.

Elrohir didn't need to be told twice, setting the book still in his hands down, grabbing his brother by the wrist and pulling him out of the room past Erestor, not that Elladan had to be pulled very hard.

"Do you think Galadriel's already told Elrond and Celeborn?" he asked. "And should we let him know where Erestor is or do you think that would just make things worse?"

"I think telling one person in this house about Glorfindel is more than enough for me tonight," Elrohir replied.  "Everyone else can figure out where whoever they're looking for is on their own."

"What the hell is going on?" Kili asked, appearing around a corner.

"You were saying?" Elladan asked, glancing at Elrohir.

Elrohir bit back a curse.  It had already been a long night and he wanted nothing more than to have a closed door to his bedroom with his brother inside and the rest of the household outside.  "You choose the most appropriate phrases sometimes," he answered Kili.

Frowning, Kili planted his hands on his hips. Though he should have gone to Thranduil or Legolas with question his stomach churned at the though and so far the twins had been the only ones to answer his questions. "Why?"

Elladan sighed. "A portal to hell opened, as I'm sure you remember here. Glorfindel got out of it before we got it closed, he's been missing and thus presumed dead for the last three centuries. I don't think a vampire's survived in hell that long." He patted Kili patronizingly on the cheek as they passed. "Have a good night."

Elrohir actually let his lips curve upward at his brother, "Let's get ourselves scarce before anyone else decides to start asking questions, hm?"

"Yes," Elladan said quickly, not quite running through the mansion to their chambers, dragging Elrohir with him and shoving him against the door as soon as it was closed.

Elrohir's hand moved to tangle in Elladan's hair, the other wrapping around him to pull him closer, "Fuck.  That was...That was just a taste of what's coming and the sheer number of them."

"There were a lot," Elladan agreed, shoving his nose into the juncture of Elrohir's neck and shoulder, actually taking the time to breath and bring in the other's scent.

Elrohir tilted his head to the side, resting it against Elladan's shoulder, "The hunters are never going to agree to work with us.  And Hell's already opened once."

"Then we'll find another way," Elladan said. "We will find a way."

"This is going to end in bloodshed and fire," Elrohir murmured.  "And not of the kind worth reveling in either."

"Tonight's not," Elladan growled and dragged their mouths together harshly, pulling back for a moment before moving back in, his mouth already open as he nipped at Elrohir's bottom lip.

That seemed to snap his twin out of his worry and he responded to the kiss with violent fervor. "Good," Elladan said under his breath, pinning him against the door and digging his fingers into his shoulders.

Elrohir growled lowly at that, yanking him closer by his hips and slamming their mouths together again

"I'd take you right here," Elladan said, placing a gentle kiss on his temple for a breath before diving back into the embrace.

Elrohir drew back from the kiss just enough to speak, his lips still brushing Elladan's, "Well, then why don't you?

Dropping his hands down to cup the back of Elrohir's legs and hitching them up around his waist, Elladan smirked. "I actually have no idea."

-0-

Glorfindel stepped out of the tub--he had had to refill it twice before the water was clear.  He had spent a quarter of an hour exploring the amenities in the bathroom and muttering about how much changed in three hundred years.  Though he had to admit running hot water was a very nice addition.  He dressed in clothes that had been left for him, grimacing at the feel of them and the fact that they didn't fit, but he was hardly going to complain after the rags he'd arrived in.  Combing the remaining knots out of his hair, he tied it back and looked himself over as best he could without a mirror, deciding that it wasn't going to get any better, but it was a great improvement.  Shaking his head he crossed the room and opened the door.  Stepping out, he almost ran directly into Erestor.

Erestor didn't react for a moment before he brought his eyes up and tracked down the other. "So you are alive," he said, and poked him in the chest as if to make sure he was standing there and corporal.

Glorfindel took a half step back at that touch, no longer accustomed to contact that didn't hurt, "As alive as we ever are, yes."

"I've never heard of vampires becoming ghosts," he conceded and turned abruptly, walking away.

Pausing for a long moment, the blond hurried to catch up to him, nearly stumbling a couple of times, "Erestor, wait.  That's all?"

"I'm sure Galadriel and Celeborn would like to speak to you," Erestor said, not looking back up at him.

He fought with himself for a moment before reaching out and touching the other's shoulder, pulling him to a stop, "I've been trapped in Hell for what I've been told was three hundred years and your only response is to poke me in the chest and confirm I'm actually standing before you?"

"Did you expect me to have missed you?" Erestor said. "To have mourned you for _three hundred years_?"

"No."  He released the other and stepped back again, "I'd never expect something so human as that from you.  But perhaps an acknowledgement of the fact that I'm here, beyond acting as though I'm a specimen."

Erestor's shoulders tensed and his eyes blazed in anger for a moment before he masked that. "And what would you have wished then?"

Glorfindel's eyes narrowed, something kindling in them, "A hello. Anything."

"Hello," Erestor said mildly.

Glorfindel snarled softly at that, "You could give a Nordic winter competition for cold, Erestor."  He shook his head, "You're right, Galadriel and Celeborn will likely wish to speak with me."

"One would think you'd like the cold, after where you've been," Erestor said and it was supposed to be as mild as anything else he'd said but his voice dropped and he sounded sad instead. He cleared his throat and looked away. "I should stab you myself," he muttered.

The blond's jaw tensed and he let his gaze drift down the hall as he murmured, "Go ahead, not as though it hasn't happened enough these last three centuries."

Hand suddenly on his chest, Erestor shoved him backward into the nearest wall. His eyes were blazing again. "You were gone for three centuries. I tought you were dead for three centuries. Do you have any idea what th--" he suddenly snapped his mouth shut and just growled again.

"You mourned," Glorfindel said, his tone dropping.  "You didn't pine, but you mourned.  Even if you won't admit it to yourself."

"I can't _not_ admit it to myself," Erestor said. "When everyone can remind me I mourned because they say it. Which I think is why I hate it so much."

"You've spent the last three hundred years alone, haven’t you?" Glorfindel watched him carefully, watched even the slightest twitch of a muscle, relearning the other vampire's face as he did so.

With a snarl, Erestor shoved back from him, putting space between them. "What would that matter?"

"It wouldn't," he answered, catching Erestor's wrist before he could pull away further.

"Then why ask?"

"Because I've missed you.  I've no idea what's changed since I, since I fell.  I'm adrift and I want to know where I stand in at least one area," he finally admitted.

Erestor watched him for a long moment. "No one else has dared," he said finally, and added more quietly. "And I never wanted them to."

"You didn’t much want me to originally," Glorfindel said, his voice quiet in the empty hall.

"But you changed my mind," he said, voice also soft. "There has been no one else."

"Will you take me back?" Glorfindel asked, trying to keep any hope out of his voice. 

"You just returned," Erestor said, tensing like he might pull away again. "You might find things have changed since then." _Like me_ , he didn't say because he didn't feel like he had to.

Releasing his wrist and stepping back, Glorfindel ran a hand over his eyes.  The line of his shoulders spoke of a deep exhaustion, "I'll be surprised if I find a thing in this world that hasn't changed since the last time I walked on it."

For a long moment, Erestor hesitated, reaching a hand out to rest it on Glorfindel's chest, touch light. "I do not know where we stand."

He forced himself to stay still under the touch, meeting Erestor's eyes, "I swore to myself when I fell and found myself in torment that I would find a way back. Time passes so differently there, but I come out on a demon's coattails and find the world has changed completely.  But not in the ways that matter."

"It has changed," Erestor said, noticing the way that Glorfindel had reacted to his touch, like he expected them to hurt. "You should reacquaint yourself with it."

Glorfindel paused, his eyes searching Erestor's face for any sign of what the other was thinking and he cursed the centuries that had lost him the ability to understand what the other said when he didn’t speak.  Pausing for the briefest of moments more he reached out and pulled Erestor in, kissing him before either of them could argue further.

Arm slipping around the other's waist, Glorfindel pulled him even closer, craving the feel of Erestor, trying to remember everything he knew about the other--scent, taste, touch.

Even though he had no need to breath, Erestor pulled back, one hand reaching out to find Glorfindel's tail of hair, pulling it over his shoulder and fingering it all the way down to the bottom. "Your hair is still so long," he murmured.

Reaching up to brush a hand over Eresotr's own short locks, Glorfindel murmured, "While you've all cut yours off. Mine will probably have to go as well in short order."

"It can stay for now," Erestor said, eyes narrowed at the thought of chopping it off. "It's not become such a crime in society anymore to wear one's hair this way."

"Considering the amount of time it took to get it untangled, I'd prefer to keep it long for a while yet," Glorfindel agreed without acknowledging that he was doing so.

"Good," Erestor said, a hint of a possessive growl in his voice and he wished he'd caught it before it slipped through.

That earned a hint of a smirk, though it vanished quickly, "I've seen the twins and the Lady.  Who else of the old household is still here?"

Erestor stepped back. "Elrond, Thranduil. All of Feanor's sons are dead now. Celeborn is still with his lady, Cerbian is not."

Glorfindel fell very still at that, "What happened to her?"

"She was killed," he said. "We did not stay in that town for long afterward."

"How much of that town remained standing when you left?" he asked quietly.

"Not much," Erestor admitted. "Which is why it was best to leave it. Besides, there was a whole new world opening up."

"How long have you been in this place?"

"Almost a decade," he said. "Galadriel designed the house herself."

"I can see her touch in it," Glorfindel said with the faintest of smiles.

Erestor nodded shortly. "She's most proud."

"She should be.  It's unheard of for a line to be as whole as hers is this many years later."

"We've had some additions of course," Erestor said. "Thranduil lives with us full time now, with his two childe."

"He didn't even have one the last time I heard of him.  And I have to ask how long you all have been putting up with him," Glorfindel said wryly.

Erestor only did not roll his eyes because it was not civilized. "Considering that his last childe is barely months old and the child of the hunters? I try not to think about how long he's been here."

The blond went completely still again, "A child of hunters?  And he was foolish enough to turn him?"

"He has very particular views on who should be turned," Erestor said. "And yet never seems to pay much attention to them. Which is probably why Tauriel left a century ago."

"Smart girl," Glorfindel murmured.  "I always find myself wondering how Thranduil has lasted as long as he has.  Especially if Celeborn is as much a guardian of his line as he used to be."

"He's on thin ice," Erestor shrugged. "But he's still smart enough to stay alive," he said and blinked, stepping forward again to press against Glorfindel. "They can wait to speak with you."

Glorfindel startled at the sudden contact, but let his arm settle loosely around Erestor's waist again, "Can they really?"

"Surely," he agreed. "And I know for a fact I scared Elladan and Elorhir back to their bedroom an hour ago."

“As I said, some things haven't changed at all," Glorfindel murmured, leaning down enough to rest his forehead against Erestor's shoulder.

"It will surely be another hour before they're seen," Erestor said. "When they get that look in their eye, it's best not to go looking for them. I'm sure they'd appreciate being there when you talk to the others."

"It would hardly be fair to deny them that opportunity then."

"Then you have a while," Erestor said. "I could show you the house," he offered, clearly not meaning for it to be taken up on but leaving a way out for both of them.

"I think I'd rather just see a single room," Glorfindel answered, pulling Erestor ever so slightly closer as his voice dropped toward a purr.

Erestor's jaw worked. "If you get lost again," he said. "I'll stake you myself."

"Then I'll be sure not to get lost," Glorfindel murmured.  "I couldn't bear knowing that I had driven you to that."

Erestor wanted to protest that it had nothing to do with emotions but left it there, seeking Glorfindel's mouth with his own, already open as he leaned in.

Glorfindel returned the kiss for a moment before drawing back, "Perhaps not in the corridor any longer?"

Erestor waved, not sure he wanted to invite Glorfindel to his sanctuary yet. "There are plenty of guest rooms," he started and visibly wavered again.

"Join me there?"  Glorfindel asked quietly, fingers tracing over where Erestor's pulse point on his throat would have been.

Erestor swallowed to feel a touch there. "Today," he agreed. "We'll decide about a permanent solution then."

"You'll have to lead.  I don't know this house yet," Glorfindel replied, wanting to shut out memory and time, to reverse it.  As that was not an option he would take what he could get and see Erestor under the new lights, rather than that of candles and oil lamps.

Erestor nodded, stepping back and leading the way down the hall, taking a turn down a short flight of stairs and past only a few doors before pushing one open, nodding to himself in satisfaction that he'd found the one with the bed he'd been aiming for. He turned to glance back at Glorfindel, trying to remember three hundred years ago. "You've never seen electric lights, have you?" he asked.

"No," Glorfindel admitted.  "Nor a bath like the one I had earlier."

"I could find candles," Erestor offered.

"Do you even still have them?" Glorfindel asked, sounding caught between a desire for something familiar and wanting nothing more than to close himself in a room with Erestor, electric lights be damned.

"Yes," Erestor said. "Though we do not tell the twins where they are."

That earned a genuine laugh, "I would imagine there are several things that you don't tell the twins about.  I would appreciate candles, I think."

"They are nearby," Erestor said. "Sit," he offered and slipped out the door.

Glorfindel hesitated, looking around the room as though he couldn't believe he was actually there before he sat down on the bed, running a hand over the counterpane and watching his fingers dance over the fabric.

Moments later, Erestor appeared with several thick candles and an electric lighter because he could not be bothered to find the matches, or even the flint and tinder. He turned the light out, used to moving in the dark. He set the candles at points in the room, lighting the first one on the nightstand before using that light to place and light the others. "Have you seen a bed in three centuries?" he asked, voice velvet in the flame-lit room.

"Not with a mattress or blankets," Glorfindel answered, shaking his head as he watched Erestor move through the shadows, the candles gradually lighting the room until their familiarity with the dark and the shadows was no longer necessary.

Erestor finally turned back to him. "Where have you been?" he asked, the question hypothetical.

"In a place without time.  Where having once been human is nearly as great a crime as still being one," Glorfindel murmured, his gaze never wavering.

Erestor held his hands out quietly. "You're home now."

The blond vampire paused, reaching out to grasp Erestor's hands and holding on as though the other were his lifeline, "And it's not a dream?"

"No," Erestor said. "I am certainly no one's dream and I'm as solid as you are."

"I've admittedly never dreamed of electric lights, but I have dreamt of you.  I'm not sure it wasn't the worst torture offered me."  He pulled lightly, drawing Erestor nearer.

"How so?" Erestor found himself asking, allowing the motion.

"Because every time I woke I was reminded that I wasn't here.  I was still in Hell.  I lost you again, every time."

 Erestor didn't move for a long, terrible moment before he tugger Glorfindel forward slightly, letting him rest his head on his shoulder. 

Glorfindel closed his eyes and breathed deeply, embedding the feel and scent and sounds in his mind, "Oh Erestor.  I wanted to come back to you for so long."

"You took your sweet time about it," Erestor grumbled. "But you're here now."

"Getting in's easy.  I had to ride the tails of an invasion force to get out, and even then I had to fight," Glorfindel replied, but didn't say more than that before leaning up and pressing a hard kiss to Erestor's lips. Erestor braced himself above him, dipping down and not coming back up.

-0-

Standing in the light of the dawn, on a hill above the city, the tall white figure considered it. Sunlight did not harm him in the same ways that it harmed his followers, many of the demons scuttling back and mewling at the sunlight hitting them while he stood still.

The sun rose higher, highlighting the patchwork of pink scars against his white skin, self made defilement of his own body. But now there was a city, full of those who did not suspect he existed except in their nightmares to defile. No more hell, full of other demons and dark creatures crowding together, but humans, and human like demons who were all too weak. Now he could drink their fresh blood and carve new macabre designs into their skin.

As the sun cleared the mountains, he looked down at the city, and smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long time between updates--both your authors have moved twice in the last month


	9. Come Upstairs

Bilbo hummed an old song under his breath as he scanned in the returns and set them on one of the carts.  He was still wondering exactly how he was supposed to convince Thorin of all people to work with the vampires.  The fact that he was getting his name back had become nearly a mantra.  He glanced up as the front door opened, blinking to see Thorin himself enter the library.

Shifting, Thorin looked around before he approached Bilbo. "Good day," he said, eyes still scanning the room.

 "Good day.  Is there something I can help you with today?"  He asked, grey eyes blinking up at the other.

Thorin paused. "What do you know about hell portals?"

"I know they're usually a hint that the world's going to end in short order," Blibo answered.  "Or at the very least an indication that something could come through that could destroy the world."

"Yes," Thorin agreed. "But one opened last night and we need to know more of it."

"I didn't realize it was going to happen so soon," Bilbo murmured.  "You need to know more about this particular portal, or general ones?"

"Both," Thorin said. "Anything you have. A hell portal opened," Thorin said, sounding frustrated. "I need to know anything about a hell portal that opened."

"The last one I can recall reading of, at least with the sort of signs that led up to this one, was the one that opened in Durin's time.  The one that ended up requiring more than humans, more than vampires even, to close it.  Because we're not completely overrun, I would hazard a guess and say that the portal that opened this time?  It was a leading act.  Whatever came through is going to wreak havoc and probably kill a lot of people, but it won’t be a devourer'."

"Then what do you define as devourer?" Thorin asked.

"Smaug.  He hasn't been heard of in centuries, but he's a devourer--a lesser one, but a devourer nonetheless.  They're the ones that don't come through for mischief or vendettas, or anything along those lines.  They're the ones that have one goal: enslave or destroy the world.  There's no in between," Bilbo answered.

"And you believe that is what wants to come through the portal? How? Why?"

“There are portals that open all the time, we just don't notice them, or not really.  An unexpected string of tornadoes, an especially violent volcanic eruption, those can herald smaller portals, things that let mischief makers through, or the ones who don't really fit in in Hell but who might find a place in the world."  He considered, "Have you been paying attention to the signs that have been happening?  Not just locally.  Globally.  The local ones are the worst of course, but the sea south of Cape Horn has been boiling.  The sky over Hungary turned green the other week, These are signs of a cataclysm.  Something big.    That portal that opened probably where another will.  But I don't think what was supposed to come through made it this time.  Devourers are usually a second wave.  The first is a sort of, lulling into false security if you will.  Though it will be anything but calm."

Thorin frowned, that not being what he asked. "How do you know it's Smaug and how did you know he was coming now?" he asked. "You knew the name of the creature."

"I was told.  But he's not here yet.  There weren't any strange fires in the signs, yet, beyond whatever's causing the ocean to boil, and there weren't any when the portal opened either," Bilbo said.

"Told by who?" Thorin asked, leaning forward and staring at Bilbo intently.

Bilbo leaned back, hating direct questions with a passion, "A meddling old man who spends far too much time interfering and knows more than I have any explanation for."

"I want to meet him," Thorin said, hands braced on the counter between them and not moving his eyes away.

That earned a short laugh, "And if I could tell you where he is, I would be more than happy to.  He sweeps in with prophecies of doom and sweeps out again.  I have no way to contact him. He'll show up when he's the last person you want to see.  It's his habit."

Thorin's eyes narrowed. "That's not acceptable," he said. "We need to understand what it is happened and we need that now."

Bilbo's laugh gained a slightly hysterical edge, "You think?"

"Yes, I do," Thorin replied, not seeming to find that funny at all.

"Look, Thorin, if I knew how to reach him, I would.  I would tell you in a heartbeat.  But I don't.  I've seen him a handful of times, and it's never when I expect.  He won't give me a way to reach him and there's nothing to do regarding him but hope he shows up."

"Would anyone else know how to contact him?" Thorin asked.

"There's one, or two who might.  But you're not going to want to talk to them," Bilbo answered.  "Though I don't know if they would now that I think on it."

 Thorin frowned. "And who would they be?"

"Before I say anything further, I swear on my life that I have never had contact with them," Bilbo said before actually answering.  "It's possible that at some point he has been in contact with Galadriel and Celeborn."

Thorin reared back. "What?" he demanded, voice a low growl.

Bilbo held up his hands, "He doesn't see things the same way others do, he's, he's too immersed in trying to keep the world intact for that."

“What?" Thorin asked, voice dropping lower.

"He's old, I don't know how old.  He doesn't, he doesn't see it in terms of vampires and humans.  He sees it in terms of people and creatures who can benefit his goal, which is to keep the world in one piece, as far as I've ever been able to ascertain," Bilbo answered.  "And they're ancient, they probably know more than any history book, so it would stand to reason that he'd be in contact with them.  Though probably no more than he is with me."

Thorin scowled, clearly still angry at the idea. "Do you have any information on Smaug or the portals?" he asked, voice low.

"Smaug likes fire, that, that's really all I know of him.  As to the portals?  No.  I know they're gates.  I know what's opening now is incredibly severe, but no I don't know more than that.  Hell and its dimensions aren't my area," Bilbo murmured.

"Books?" Thorin prompted.

offered him a long look, trying to recall, even as he moved to check the catalog.  "It looks like we've two volumes on portals, one on those that have opened and one on the general aspects.  Nothing with Smaug.  They'll be back this way," He stepped from behind the desk, setting a bell on the counter and led Thorin to the shelves across from the occult books.

Thorin followed him, clearly still not trying to snarl at the mention of the vampires. Bilbo pulled out the two volumes, offering them to Thorin, "I hope these help."

"Thank you," Thorin said, though his tone was still stiff.

The fae mentally cursed his luck and his inability to lie even as he tensed at the thanks, "Is there anything else I can find for you?"

"I do not believe so," Thorin said, already looking at the books more than the other.

Bilbo managed not to flinch at that, "Alright, I'll, I'll be at the desk if you think of anything else." Thorin mumbled something that might have been thanks, moving over to one of the tables. Watching him go, Bilbo sighed and retreated back to the desk, sinking into his chair behind it and cradling his head in his hands.

After a few moments, Thorin glanced up to do a quick scan of the room and before he could look down again, he noticed Bilbo. He hesitated, going back to the book he was reading but when he looked up Bilbo seemed to be in the same position.

Bilbo muttered a curse under his breath, that based on the fact he had used it before and Gandalf still walked the earth was ineffective.  He needed to take a stroll through the park that night, there was no doubt in his mind.  He knew of a fairy circle and it would do him good to duck into it.  He straightened, shaking his head and turning his attention back to the books he had been working with before Thorin arrived. Still looking hesitant, Thorin approached the desk. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking down.

Bilbo looked up at him, offering a weak smile even as he cursed the question to the depths, "No.  A portal of hell has opened up, apparently been closed, but it opened.  I can't help you, though I want to, and I haven't had the chance to take an evening for myself in a long while."

"I'm sorry," Thorin said, shifting. "I... I am not very good at being comforting in times like this."

That earned a slightly stronger smile, "That's alright.  I've tonight off, I'll take it for myself, contact some people from back home."

Thorin nodded. "Good. I hope you have a good evening then."

Bilbo nodded very slightly, "Good luck with your own, as well." Nodding slightly but clearly not looking like he believed it, Thorin turned back to his books.

Bilbo sighed very softly, but turned back to his work, glancing up from time to time to check on Thorin.  He glanced at the clock, judging how long there was until closing before he set the bell on the desk, and moved over to where Thorin was sitting.  This was a bad idea, a very bad idea as he had no idea what he was going to say or do and going in without some idea of that when he would have to answer questions honestly was as good as proclaiming what he was.

Thorin looked from the clock to Bilbo. He quietly handed the books back. "I assume it is closing time then?"

"No, actually there's another thirty minutes or so," he set the books down on the table.  "I was, I was wondering if you'd found anything."

"No," he said and pushed himself to his feet. "I should go."

"I can attempt to reach Gandalf, if, if you think it would be of any help," Bilbo offered, taking a half step back.

Thorin rubbed a hand over his face. "It will be fine," he said finally. "I'm sure."

"If you change your mind, let me know."  He managed a faint smile, "I'm sure if I think long and hard enough about hoping he isn't here, he'll be here within the next twenty four hours, give or take."

That earned a faint smile out of Thorin. "Well, if that works, chain him here until you can call me."

Bilbo actually laughed at that, "I shall certainly attempt it.  And feel free to come by if you need to talk, not just about hell and portals and whatever else, but if you need to talk."

Thorin blinked once. "What ever else would I talk about?" he asked, corner of his mouth twitching up to show he was at least partially joking.

Lips curling sardonically, Bilbo shrugged, "Who knows?  The weather?"

"The weather is rather mild," Thorin said.

"Yes, it is in fact," Bilbo replied, steadily.

The corner of Thorin's mouth twitched again. "Hopefully it shall not rain."

"Oh but there's so much good that comes after the rain," Bilbo protested.  "The grass is greener, the air sweeter.  Everything's fresh and new."

"Perhaps," Thorin agreed.

"I'd say what we could use around here is a good rain.  Not a downpour, mind, just an hour or so of real rain," Bilbo murmured.  "But we're likely to get a hurricane instead."

Thorin laughed. "Do you not like hurricanes?"

"No," Bilbo answered, shaking his head.  "They rip up trees and displace people.  Death and destruction everywhere in their wake."

"Well," Thorin said, expression turning grim again. "We seem to be in one whether we like it or not."

That earned a sigh, "Then we'd better do what we can to come out of it alive, hadn’t we?"

"Yes," Thorin said but he did not entirely look like he believed it.

"I wish you luck in the coming storm," Bilbo murmured, expression sincere as he watched the other.

Thorin inclined his head. "Perhaps we'll all make it through."

Bilbo managed a ghost of a smile, "Perhaps we will."

o-o-o-o

Legolas was waiting in the entryway for the twins shortly after sunset.  He'd received a text from Gimli with a time and place and now he only had to convince Elladan and Elrohir to help him. Sitting down at the bottom of the steps, Elladan glanced over at him. "You look all set to go out."

The blond glanced at him, "Well, yes, I was planning to."  He paused, watching as Elrohir descended the stairs, "Actually, I was wondering if I might ask a favor of the two of you."

"A favor?" Elladan asked. "Of us?"

"I need someone to go out with tonight," Legolas said. 

Elrohir arched an eyebrow, "Don't you usually go out with Arwen?" 

"Well, usually, but tonight..." 

Elrohir sighed, "You're meeting a certain someone aren’t you?"

"Who no one else is supposed to know about," Elladan added. "How's he meeting you?"

"He didn't say," Legolas replied.  "He gave a time and place, which means he's found a way though."

Elladan turned to look at his brother and shrugged. "No demons are supposed to rise tonight, I suppose."

Elrohir muttered something about never getting to go out on their own again, but nodded, "We've nothing else we were planning on tonight.  We'll play chaperone."

Legolas bit back a hysterical laugh at that thought, "Chaperone?  The two of you?  How about alibi?"

"Both is good," Elladan smirked. "Don't you know you're supposed to remain pure and untainted by things like sex?"

"Ha.  Ha.  Ha." Legolas said dryly, "Come on, I'm supposed to meet him half way across town in thirty minutes."

"Alright," Elladan said with a smirk, pushing himself to his feet. "I was starting to feel claustrophobic."

Elrohir sighed again, slipping an arm through Elladan's without thinking about it as the three of them left the house.  They made it about halfway to the rendezvous before Elrohir gave into temptation and started murmuring in Elladan's ear, low enough Legolas wouldn't be able to hear, the several different things he would rather be doing with his brother that night.

Shivering, Elladan grinned over at him, one arm hanging around his waist. Several passerbys had long since started staring, as they seemed to be melting against each other whilst moving forward. Legolas glanced back at them and rolled his eyes, "Alibis.  Not chaperones.  Definitely not chaperones." 

Elrohir's lips curled into a smirk, "You're the one who dragged us out.  How we entertain ourselves in the meantime is entirely our decision."

"But we are the best chaperones," Elladan laughed, throwing his head back. "Because we know all the dirty tricks."

"And have invented more than a few of them," Elrohir supplied, nodding his agreement and earning another eyeroll.

"Most of them," Elladan agreed.

"Can you at least attempt to be less obvious?" Legolas all but begged. 

Elrohir laughed, "Why, brother, I do believe we're embarrassing him."

"But how could we?" Elladan asked at the same time that Gimli and Ori approached from the other direction.

"Gimli, it'd help if you would tell me what we're actually doing," Ori said. "Not that I was having a very exciting night doing nothing except stare at the wall but at least there was a wall between me and the..." he trailed off abruptly, spotting the three vampires.

Elrohir's eyebrows rose sharply and he bit his lip hard to avoid laughing.  Legolas paused, gaze darting from Gimli to Ori and back before he spoke, "You forgot to mention how you were getting out of the house."

"You don't look like you got out alone either," Gimli said and Ori felt like his eyes were about to boggle out of his head, pulling at Gimli's arm.

"Gimli, Gimli, we should go home."

"I told you I'd have to bring at least one of them along," Legolas said.  "Or I thought I did, when last we spoke."

"You did," Elladan said, peering at the two hunters. "Don't I recognize you?"

"You closed the portal," Ori said, wishing he could hide behind Gimli like he had Nori.

Elrohir snapped his fingers at that, "That's right, you're the youngest of the three who were there."  He slipped his arm from around Elladan offering an exaggerated bow, "Elrohir at your service." 

Legolas stepped back just enough to land his heel on Elrohir's toes, growling under his breath, "Be nice." 

"You are so many many years past having any room to talk in that area," Elrohir replied with a grin.

Ori's eyes had widened in alarm but at least they were not the tall blond who had come out of the hell portal. "Gimli," he managed, voice strained as Elladan laughed at his brother. "Why are we here?" he grit out and Gimli gave him a sheepish smile.

Elrohir tipped his head back and laughed at that, "Oh my god, you didn't tell him.  You dragged him out here to meet a vampire and you didn't even tell him.  You're so much worse off than I thought." 

"Elrohir," Legolas snarled, offering him a glare. 

Elrohir cleared his expression becoming serious as he shook his head, "I strongly suggest one of you fill him in before I take pity on the poor lad and do it.  Because so far, you've brought him out on a dimly lit night to meet three vampires.  I can easily imagine what fears that would raise."

"You aren't a reassuring soul," Elladan said, looking sideways.

"It's just," Gimli waved one hand and quailed under the look Ori was giving him. "I mean..."

"Oh my god," Ori managed, articulating each word slowly.

Elrohir's lips curved upward ever so slightly at Ori's response even as he slipped his arm around his brother again, "A highly intelligent hunter. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, but it's nice to know one of them has a brain."

"Oh my god Gimli!" Ori said, turning and hitting him in the arm. Gimli shifted away, still looking like he would rather be anywhere else, and certainly like he was thinking he should have found another way out of the house. "I thought Bofur was bad! I thought Fili was bad! At least they're in awkward lust with each other, not a vampire!"

"I like him," Elladan declared as Gimli sputtered.

"Awkward--awkward... Ori!"

Elrohir grinned, "I like him too." 

Legolas offered them a horrified glance before looking back to Gimli and Ori, "It's not--" 

"Oh yes it is," Elrohir cut him off, dismissively, earning a growl from the blond vampire.

"No, it's not," Gimli tried to protest too.

"Which is why you've been calling and texting since we let him have your number back," Elrohir drawled.  "No matter the risk. Of course, it's nothing like that at all."

"Tea," Ori said suddenly. "I want tea. _Right now_."

"Alright," Gimli said under his breath. "There's a cafe down the street..."

"Oh but the tea there is little better than boiled leaves," Elrohir replied wrinkling his nose. 

Legolas shot him another glare, "You don't even drink tea anymore." 

"How would you know?  I happen to like tea from time to rare time, and the tea served there might as well be water for all it actually tastes like tea."

"In fifteen minutes I will care," Ori muttered. "Right now? I just want a fucking cup of tea before I kill something."

"Well, in a situation like that I suppose boiled leaves or burned coffee is acceptable," Elrohir allowed, motioning in the direction of the cafe, indicating for Gimli to lead as he had suggested it.

Gimli looked around their odd group before taking off the street, Ori looking between the vampires warily.

Legolas glanced at the twins as they walked, hissing under his breath, "Could you try not causing more trouble?" 

"You're doing fine on your own, we certainly don't need to aid you with that," Elrohir answered with a shrug.

"We've caused none, either," Elladan protested and Gimli wasn't sure which one of them to look at so he managed not to look at any of them.

"Beyond giving him back the number in the first place," Elrohir reminded, before weighing what he'd just said.  "Though on the other hand that probably stopped more trouble than it caused at this point."

"At least we would like think so," Elladan shrugged and Ori looked between them from where he and Gimli were still walking in the back. He would not turn his back on the vampires no matter how well he currently was handling their proximity.

"Until I see evidence directly to the contrary, I'm going to hold by the fact that we did more good than harm by giving up that number," Elrohir replied, hardly batting an eyelid as Legolas reached the door to the cafe and pulled it open, holding it for the rest.

"I wonder if Milord and the Lady would see it the same way," the blond muttered.

"That would require you to risk them finding out about this whole thing," Elrohir offered with a sharp smile.  "And I was under the impression you didn't want that."

“We are in far less trouble than you are."

"Trouble?" Ori asked and shook his head, fairly certain he actually did not want to know as he stomped up to the counter, managing not to demand tea, any tea. Instead he got his heart rate under control and calmly asked for a chai latte, deciding that caffeine was worth it.

Elrohir lounged against the counter as he ordered a white chocolate mocha.  Glancing at Ori his lips curved into a smile, "Oh, hadn't you heard?  We're not supposed to be anywhere near you all."

Ori looked at him sideways. "That seems rather..." He considered. "Oh. It's like cop killing, isn't it? You're not actually supposed to kill or hurt us, just avoid us."

"Got it in one."  He looked at his brother, "I like this one.  He catches on quick."

Ori rubbed a hand over his mouth. "My brothers spent their lives keeping me away from vampires and what do I do? I go to coffee with them." Without even ordering a drink, Gimili and Legolas had already retreated to another table and Ori gaped after them when he realized Glimi had abandoned him.

Elrohir swept a hand toward a nearby table, "Shall we take a seat and talk? We could always sit next to them and eavesdrop."

"I don't think they'd like that," Ori muttered.

"Well, it's not really about whether they'd like it or not," he replied, but strolled to a table halfway across the cafe.

"You like to meddle, don't you?" Ori asked and Elladan laughed, following close to his brother.

"When you've been around for as long as we have, you have to find fun somewhere," Elrohir answered with a smirk.

Ori hesitated and looked between them as they sat down almost as one. "And how long has that been?"

"Just about four hundred years now," Elrohir said, leaning back in his chair and taking a drink of his coffee.

Ori blinked and blinked again, cradling his hands around the drink. "That... that's a long time." He took a hasty sip and winced at the heat of it.

"It, I suppose it would seem so. I forget how long it is, considering the rest of the line.”

"The rest of the line?" Ori asked, blowing on his latte.

"He's fishing for information, brother," Elladan said, looking over. "Are you sure you want to give it to him?"

"Oh I like this one," Elrohir shrugged. "But no, I'm not sure that's information he needs."

"Should I be jealous?" Elladan laughed, leaning against his shoulder. "It's not often you like mortals."

"Apparently I'm quick enough," Ori said, still blowing. "So the rest of your line is long lived. What about the newest member or are you on a recruiting streak?"

"Kili, you mean," Elladan said and Ori winced to hear the name from a vampire. He glanced over at where Gimli and Legolas were talking and back to the two vampires across from him.

"Yes, Kili."

"Technically speaking he's not of our line," Elrohir replied, leaning back against his brother.  "If he stops being so reckless.  And stops snarling at his sire he might make it. But he had growing up to do in your lifetimes, not even mentioning the sort we lead."

Ori stilled, eyes hardening. "How kind of you," he managed. "Any of us might kill you to have him back and you dismiss the fact that he's part of your world now."

"That was not what I meant," Elrohir answered, realizing what he had said.  "I simply meant that he doesn't seem like one used to being denied things.  And that's a dangerous thing to be, whichever life you lead."

"He was young," Ori said. "And convinced that when he got older he'd have everything, not that he was never denied anything." He shook his head abruptly, leaning back.

"You sound like you were close," Elladan remarked, having stepped on Elohir under the table and Ori gave him a harsh look before taking another sip of his drink and not replying.

"You grew up together, didn't you?" Elrohir asked, tone softening ever so slightly.

"Of course we did," Ori said. "Besides, his brother is hurting and I grew up with the two of them. Can you imagine brothers being separated?" he asked, watching the pair closely and seeing Elladan wince.

Elrohir actually flinched at that, "He's the younger, isn't he?"

"Course he is," Ori said, talking a calm sip now that he had the information rather than constantly asking the questions himself.

"It's not easy on either side to lose family," Elrohir spoke mutedly, taking a drink of his coffee before setting it down between himself and Elladan.

Elladan plucked it up and Ori looked between them. "You were brothers, weren't you?" he asked and Elladan winced again before nodding.

"Yes," Elrohir glanced at Elladan. "Still are. No more nor less than we were before."

"But you aren't human," Ori said. "You're not related by blood anymore." He paused a beat. "Considering the fact you're both vampires can you really blame Kili for anything right now for losing his?"

"We're still of the same line," Elrohir responded.  "But no, I can't blame Kili.  The transition’s difficult under normal circumstances. But if any of us end up dust because of him?" HIs voice hardened ever so slightly, "I reserve the right to hold blame then."

"So which of you changed the other and will Kili do the same?" Ori asked, voice significantly calmer than he felt. He set the cup down to make sure his hands were not shaking.

"We're doing everything we can to keep Kili from doing the same," Elrohir stole his drink back for another sip.

"Isn't that hypocritical of you?" Ori asked.

"You're not studying philosophy are you?" Elladan asked and Ori shook his head. "Then please don't ask that."

Elrohir shifted in his seat, crossing his legs under the table, "There would be far too much death on both sides if he were to turn his brother."

"Unlike you?" Ori asked.

"We weren't hunters," Elladan pointed out. "And we could run back then."

"Can't you run now?" Ori frowned, leaning his elbows against the table and watching them both closely. "What would keep you here? You must be used to moving, four hundred years on."

"You were there when a gate of hell opened," Elrohir answered.  "That was a prelude to what's to come.  We can't abandon that."

"So vampires are going to try and save the world," Ori murmured. "Who'd ever have thought that?"

"You didn't seem so surprised by it then," Elladan said, leaning forward and Ori flushed and looked down. "And you don't seem so alarmed at talking to us now." He snagged the coffee back from Elrohir, watching Ori shift.

"Just because you act human, doesn't mean you are," he muttered.

"The only thing we're really missing is a heartbeat and a need for oxygen," Elrohir replied. "We feel like you do, we speak, we walk, we care, and we happen to like this world."

"Except that you eat other people," Ori said. "There's not been many societies recently that approve of cannibalism, if you're arguing you're as human as we are."

"Oh, no, we're not as human as you are. Down that argument lies madness," Elrohir shook his head, his lips quirking upward faintly.  "But we're not _not_ human either."

"So you're arguing for a semantic difference?" Ori asked and Elladan laughed.

"If we can love, if we can cry, then we have the same emotions as humans," he said. "We simply live longer and colder lives."

"Can you cry?" Ori asked, sounding curious.

"Our bodies are made of as much water as yours," Elrohir replied, thinking of Elrond's grief.  How hot it had burned one moment and how cold the next.  "We mourn those we love, and we weep."

"And occasionally make ruins out of our grief," Elladan added, remembering walking into what had been their home several hundred years ago to find it rubble and Erestor glaring at them all for daring to ask if he was alright after destroying it.

Ori looked down, the chai having long since gone cold and he didn't care anymore. "We lost Kili," he said. "I don't care how you feel about him, we lost him and we had better not lose Fili too, so you'd better be right that we won't."'

Elrohir paused for a long moment, considering his words carefully, "We will do everything we can to prevent that loss to you all. You won't lose him due to us."

"At least not physically," Ori sighed and Elladan arched a brow. "Not that Kili hasn't already gone after him--"

" _What_?" Elladan cut off.

Elrohir fell still from where he'd been fiddling with his coffee cup, all of his attention suddenly focused on Ori, "He's done _what_? When?"

"Days ago," Ori said, leaning back. "Before the portal."

"Days ago," Elrohir looked at Elladan, realization dawning on him.  "The billiard room."

Elladan hummed in agreement. "I thought he was too interested in the notion of us being brothers."

Ori looked between them. "So you didn't know about that then? Fili's hand is still broken."

"That was the point at which we became aware of the probability," Elrohir answered, still looking at Elladan.  "I think it's time we start going out with him."

"Like hounding that one isn't already enough?" Ori asked, nodding over to Legolas and Elladan groaned.

"You are far too aware."

Elrohir finished off his coffee, looking mournfully at the cup, "We're going to need to keep an eye on them both, aren't we?  Going separately will raise too many flags, though."

Elladan hummed in agreement and Ori glanced between the pair of them. "So what was the portal?" he asked and they turned as one to look at him. "Why did you stop it?"

“That was a very literal gate of hell." Elrohir answered simply, speaking far more calmly than he felt, "We closed it because no one on this plane is yet ready to face what is trying to get out."

Ori folded his hands over the table and watched them. "Will it open again?"

Elrohir paused for a long moment, tracing a finger over the table top before he nodded, "Yes. And no, we don't know when yet."

"Will you be able to stop it again?" Ori asked.

Sighing, Elrohir shook his head, "No.  Not next time.  Or I seriously doubt our ability to do so."

"Then the world ends?" Ori asked. "There has to be something else." He looked over where Gimli and Legolas were still talking, leaning closer to each other and strangled a sigh in his throat.

"We can't do it on our own," Elrohir amended what he'd said, following Ori's gaze.  "The creature that we're expecting isn't something that we can handle by ourselves."

"You sound like you already might have a plan," Ori said.

"It's not much of one," the vampire admitted.  "And I think at this point the entirety of it entails the fact that we need the help of you all."

"You all," Ori repeated. "Fuck, you mean the hunters?"

"That's exactly what I mean. We're staring down an apocalypse."

"That might not mean much," Ori warned him. "Not with Thorin. Not after Kili."

Elrohir rubbed his eyes, "He would sacrifice the entire world for the sake of a grudge?  Not that I don't understand his anger, but the _entire world_."

"It's still abstract," Elladan said, watching Ori. "You saw the gate and he didn't."

"And what would make it less abstract for him?" Elrohir asked, managing, narrowly to keep his tone even.  "When Smaug burns this city and all its inhabitants to ash?"

"Probably," Ori said mutedly and pushed himself to his feet. "Gimli, we need to go."

Legolas looked up, startled, from the conversation he and Gimli had been having, glancing toward the twins and catching Elrohir's nod.

"But--" Gimli started to protest.

"I know the secret now," Ori snapped. "I'm sure we'll come back. But we're done for tonight."

Legolas rose smoothly, inclining his head to Ori, "Thank you for coming out with him tonight."

Ori made an annoyed sound and turned on his heel, Gimli looking back at Legolas. "I suppose this won't be it then," he said, faint color high on his cheekbones. "I'll see you soon."

That garnered a smile from the blond vampire, "I look forward to it.  Stay safe." Gimli nodded and hurried after Ori.

Elrohir appeared at Legolas' side, "Come, let us return home."

Elladan leaned against his brother, twining an arm around his waist. "Did you enjoy your date?"

Legolas paused before nodding, "Yes, thank you for coming."

"Yes thank you for coming," Elladan parroted back. "For everything you risked to come here I hope it was better than that."

"I couldn't have made it here without you, or rather I shouldn't have.  I was trying to offer you thanks," Legolas said, tensing.

Elrohir grimaced, "You're getting better at it.  But really, did it go well for you?"

"It went very well.  Thank you."

"Have some passion, Legolas," Elladan said.

"I'm not expressing it around you two," he answered testily.

Elladan laughed. "Well, if you must be that way."

Elrohir smirked, "Oh well, eventually he'll show some spark of emotion I'm sure."

Legolas offered him a long look, "You're hilarious."

"We try," Elladan laughed, one arm braced on Elrohir's shoulder. "We could even start a comedy duo."

"Let me know how that goes for you two," Legolas drawled.

"We'll be the hit of the night crowd," Elladan assured him.

"Of course you will,” Legolas drawled, not looking at either of them as they walked back to the mansion, Elladan and Elrohir leaning against each other, Elladan waving a hand around lazily in the air.

Elrohir grinned, "Well, we'll have to be, since we could hardly make it big during the day."

"We could probably get on TV though," Elladan mused.

"You have to prove you're actually funny first," Legolas reminded him.

"We are," Elladan said. "Just not to you, but I'm starting to seriously doubt the existence of your sense of humor."

"And this is why I usually avoid you," the blond said.

"Except who else would take you out on a date?" Elladan asked, cocking his brow up.

He grimaced, "Alright, you're right.  I still don't find you amusing."

"You never have," Elrohir replied, carelessly.

Elladan shrugged that off, tracing his fingers along the back of Elrohir's neck. "I assume this is going to continue then?"

Elrohir narrowly kept himself from arching his neck into that touch.  Legolas glanced at them, looking almost hesitant, "I would like it to."

"Then we'll probably just have to come with you again," Elladan sighed. "And set Arwen on Kili."

"Why are you setting Arwen on..." He paused, "You found out about Fili's hand."

"At least that they met," Elladan said. "I don't actually want to know more than that."

"That's all I know of it," Legolas admitted.  "Are you sure Arwen will agree?"

"No, but she usually does," Elladan shrugged. "Something about keeping our collective asses from the fire motivates her in the end."

Legolas actually offered a faint smile at that, "Well, good luck.  And thank you again."

Elladan shrugged. "I suppose it's what we can do."

They reached the mansion and Elrohir opened the door, "Now, if you'll excuse us?"

Legolas waved them off, "Have a good day."

"You seem in a hurry to get away," Elladan chuckled, following closely on his heels.

Elrohir waited until they were up the stairs and around the corner before pinning Elladan to the wall, "Our entire evening got usurped.  Yes I'm in a hurry to get away."

A slow smile spread across his face. "After four hundred years and you still don't have the patience to wait for one night? I clearly have not taught you well enough." He twisted and slide away.

Elrohir growled lowly and followed him, "You have taught me very well, but I was looking forward to a night spent causing a commotion with you and then coming home, not what we did instead."

"It wasn't entirely a waste," Elladan said, still dancing away. "The hunter was interesting."

"Alright, that's true.  Sharp too.  I liked him," Elrohir said, catching his brother's arm and yanking him in close.

For a moment Elladan moved against him before turning the tug into a turn and sliding away again. "I hope he doesn't get himself killed."

"If he wasn't a hunter I'd feel better saying that we should keep an eye on him.  But I hope the same.  He's, interesting," Elrohir moved smoothly in pursuit of his brother.

Elladan shoved a hand out, catching Elrohir in the chest. "You're not really trying."

Elrohir caught his hand, kissing the fingertips before letting one of them slip briefly between his lips.  He let go and swept down the hall, "You were right before, you've taught me well enough to have patience for a night."

Smiling after him, Elladan leaned his head back and laughed. "Brother, dear, you give up so quickly."

"Who said I've given up at all? Better to save myself for another day, no?"

"Patience and giving up are two different things," he said.

Elrohir glanced over his shoulder, a smirk toying about his lips, "Have I given up?  Really, Elladan, do you think so little of me to think that?"

"I don't know," he said and shrugged. "You seemed to lack the patience."

"Did you want to continue this in the hallway?" Elrohir arched an eyebrow.

Elladan spread his arms and leaned back. "Why not?"

"Because the rest of the household would probably rather you didn't," Glorfindel drawled from the doorway of the room he was exiting.

"I don't remember you being quite this snoopy or self satisfied," Elladan said. "Besides, I remember the places I found you and Erestor."

Glorfindel offered him a sharp smile at that, "I've centuries to make up for, and snooping is one way to do it."

"Elladan has a point," Elrohir said, moving over and finally wrapping his arms around his brother's waist from behind.  "The number of times I had to change routes because of where you two were is uncountable."

Elladan reached a hand back to tangle in Elrohir's hair. "It could even be blamed for our issues, you know? You were just such an influence, a role model even on how to make other's uncomfortable in public spaces."

Glorfindel chuckled, "You two were your own bad influences.  We had nothing to do with it."

Elrohir smirked, "You can't say that with complete certainty."  He nipped at the lobe of Elladan's ear.

Shifting, Elladan grinned at Glorfindel. The appearance of the other snapped the two out of their banter and united them against a separate foe. "Oh," he hummed. "I'm sure you have _something_ to do with it."

"Are you complaining about that fact?" Glorfindel asked, lips curling into a smirk.

"Did we ever say anything about complaint?" Elrohir asked, glancing at his twin.

Elladan shrugged. "Simply a comment that you have no room in which to talk."

"A valid point.  But I'm also not the only member of the household.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a scholar to find," he stepped smoothly past them, heading for the library.

"Just don't do anything in public!" Elladan called after him.

Elrohir curled closer against Elladan's back, kissing the side of his neck, "What say we find our own bit of privacy?"

He hummed and leaned his head back. "If we must, I suppose we must."

"I think we should before anyone else catches us here."

"I really could care less if anyone else did," Elladan said, turning without letting go of Elrohir's hair. "It seems like it has been far too long since we scandalized anyone, and frankly some of them could use the reminder."

"I don't want Elrond walking down the hall next," Elrohir replied, voice tightening.

For a moment, Elladan tensed before he let out an annoyed breath. "Of course. Alright," he said, voice lifting again. "Then we should probably go, brother dear."

 Elrohir pulled his brother close for a deep kiss before backing off enough to retreat to their room. Hesitating only for a moment, Elladan followed him, shutting the door behind him.

o-o-o-o

Five in the morning was late even for the hunters, especially if they had not been out on a particularly difficult patrol. Yet Fili sat in the kitchen, turning a cup of tea around and around in his hands and trying to figure out Ori's secret for getting comfort out of a cup.

There was a quiet footstep on the stairs and a minute or so later, Bofur was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, blinking at Fili. "Didn't expect anyone else to be up at this hour."

Fili startled, looking back. "I didn't either."

"Couldn't sleep?" He paused before moving over and getting himself a glass of water.

"Usually can't," he admitted. "The room's too empty, you know?"

Bofur nodded, sitting down across from him, "I can understand that."

"I tried making tea," Fili said. Originally he had gone outside, standing under the large tree in the backyard to smoke. Except he heard a rustling sound and had looked up to see Kili staring back down at him. For a moment neither of them had moved before Kili retreated back up in the branches and Fili had quickly returned inside, his hands shaking.

"Is it helping?" Bofur asked, nodding toward the cup in front of Fili.

"No," he said and offered the cup to Bofur. "You can try it though, if you want. I don't know how Ori does it."

The other hesitated before picking up the cup and taking a sip before setting it down again, "You could always ask him."

"No, I don't know how he manages to drink a cup of tea and pretend that the world has become calm and peaceful again," Fili said. "I understand the mechanics of boiling water and dried leaves."

Bofur managed a mirthless chuckle at that, "It probably has more to do with having it as a sign of comfort when he was younger."

"Did you have one of those?" Fili asked, tilting his head back.

"Not really," he admitted. "I use the carvings now, but there wasn't really anything when I was growing up."

"I wish there was something," Fili said, shaking his head slightly.

"I guess that means you didn't have one either?" Bofur asked quietly.

"Not unless you count a cross bow," Fili said. "Neither Thorin nor mother were really for the idea of childhood comforts. Or displays of affection."

"No, I suppose they wouldn't be," he murmured, wishing he had more to offer the other.

He sighed, pushing himself to his feet and dumping the tea back into the sink. "Oin said the bandages will come off soon and my hand will be as functional as it ever will be again."

Bofur managed a ghost of a smile, "I'm glad they're coming off soon.  How long did he think it would be recovering the muscle strength?"

"I don't know," Fili said, flexing his other hand. "He said it might depend on different things, and the part he didn't say was it will depend on how moronic I act and what stupid things I do."

"Not everyone has that thought behind what they say to you or instruct you to do," Bofur said, rising and putting his glass by the sink.

"I don't believe you," Fili said with a strained smile. "And Oin especially does because of how often we in general have gone against his express wishes for what to do with our bodies."

"Well there's only so much we can do to not go against those wishes considering the life we lead."

"Yeah," Fili said. "But it never makes him happy, you know? He huffs and glares and tries to put us back together."

Bofur nodded, leaning against the counter, "I guess we just go more carefully now. Make sure your hand is given time to heal more."

“Yeah," Fili said. "Which will work until the next time something goes wrong, or a portal to hell opens or Kili comes back." The portal to hell felt less painful than Kili coming back to kill him.

Bofur glanced away at that, "We can't prepare for everything, but we can do our best."  He paused for a long moment, shifting the conversation, "Would you sleep better in a different room do you think?"

For a moment Fili blinked at him in confusion. "Yes," he said once he understood the question without having to consider it. "God, the same room? I can't leave it because it's ours and that's a weakness but--"

"But you need to be able to get some sleep," Bofur said, looking at him again.  "I have the spare bed that I don't use."

Fili paused, fingers flexing. "Your bed."

The brunet hesitated before nodding, "I don't use it, and if it might help..."

"It seems like moving a little fast non-the-less," Fili said, swallowing hard.

Bofur ran a hand over the back of his neck, "It's just an offer.  You're allowed to turn it down."

Taking a breath, Fili inched forward. "It's a kind offer."

Bofur turned so he was facing the younger man, "Well, I mean, it probably is moving a little fast, but you need somewhere you can sleep."

He let out a breath. "Thank you. But, if someone goes looking for me and I'm not--well, where they expect, or if someone found me there--"

"Would that be so bad?" Bofur asked after a brief hesitation.

Fili blinked once and flushed to realize what he'd said. "No--I mean, no. It wouldn't be except if it was Thorin."

"He wouldn't approve," Bofur's tone was almost resigned at that.

"No, I mean, yes, he wouldn't approve but he doesn't approve of relationships, not because it's _you_ that I'm having it with," Fili said quickly not entirely certain it was true.

He looked almost skeptical at that, but nodded, "I guess that makes sense consider it's, well, Thorin.  You're not going to be able to function on this much sleep for much longer, though."

Fili looked down. "I know."

Bofur hesitated before reaching out and resting a hand on Fili's cheek, "Is there anything I can do?"

Hesitating again, Fili leaned hard against Bofur, arms going around his waist. "I don't know."

Startling very slightly, Bofur wrapped his arms around Fili, one hand moving to run over his hair, "Have you been able to get any sleep at all recently?"

"Any? Yes. I'd be dead otherwise but it's not... good."

 "You're sure I can't convince you to spend just one night out of that room?"

"It won't take a lot of convincing," Fili admitted. "I'm just tired."

"Come on upstairs then?" Bofur murmured, still stroking Fili's hair genlty.

Fili glanced back at the door way before he nodded and leaned up and kissed Bofur, the touch light. Bofur returned the kiss, gently before drawing back and lightly tugging on Fili's good hand as he started for the door. Smiling, more relaxed than he had been, Fili followed.

They reached Bofur's room and he hesitated before opening the door, letting Fili enter first. Fili stepped inside, quickly looking around to make sure everything was where it had been. He didn't dare kiss Bofur again now they were inside his room, only smiled at him. "Just the bed then, right?"

Bofur returned the smile, nodding, "Yeah, I hope it helps."

"Thank you," Fili said. "Is there anything I need to know?"

"I don't, I don't think so," he answered, going to straighten up the blankets on the couch again.

"Alright," Fili said faintly. "Thank you, Bofur."

"Anytime, Fili," Bofur replied quietly.  "Try to get some sleep."

Offering him another small smile, Fili retreated to where the bed was, curling himself up underneath the blankets. Perched near the window, still in the branches of a tree, Kili frowned at the sight of Fili content in Bofur's room, having also seen the kiss in the kitchen.

Anger curling in his stomach, he watched Fili sleep until dawn threatened and he retreated across the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your authors are back on grad school time--I had _not even remotely realized it had been two months._ So yes. Enjoy the new chapter  <3


	10. It Doesn't Mean I Don't Feel Them

Elrohir sat down next to Arwen, "Hello dearest sister."

She didn't glance up from what she was working on, "What do you two want?"

"A favor," Elladan replied, draped over Elrohir's back. "Or, rather, we're giving you a favor and asking you a favor. You need to watch Kili when he goes out at nights."

She arched an eyebrow, finally looking at them, "And what favor are you giving me?  And why am I going out with Kili at night?"

"Because he's already going after the hunters and the favor is that we're not asking you to follow Legolas," Elladan said.

Arwen blinked at them for a moment, "You want me to go with someone who is going after the hunters rather than follow Legolas, and this is a favor to me because?"

"Because Legolas is currently doe-eyed about one of them," Elrohir answered blithely.

"More than doe-eyed they've moved to late night coffee dates," Elladan huffed, dramatically waving one arm. "It's sickening to watch really. Kili at least is just being destructive."

"And you think I would rather tail the destructive one than spend nights in coffee shops?" she asked.

"We think that you can convince Kili to let you hunt with him better than we could," Elrohir corrected.

"Ah, of course.  You two do realize that you'll have to cover both of them on the nights that Grandmother wishes me to go with her, of course?"

Elladan paused and sighed. "Yes, alright. But it won't be as odd as if we were splitting up every night. We think it would be best at this point not to tell the others what the younglings are doing."

“I think that's a wise decision, yes.  You could always stage a fight to give me a couple of nights off at some point," Arwen suggested.

"Oh yes, staging a fight what a wonderful notion," Elladan laughed. "Because we never fight. Would that at least mean we get to have wonderful make up sex?"

"As long as I don't have to hear about it, that's fine by me," Arwen replied.

Elrohir smirked, leaning back against Elladan, "Well, a staged fight could probably be arranged then."

"You really should find someone," Elladan teased. "You're turning quite cold."

Arwen rolled her eyes, but smiled slightly, "You'll know when I find someone, that much I can promise you."

"Oh good," Elladan laughed, straightening from where he was still sprawled against his brother. "I look forward to the day."

"I'll remind you that you said that when it happens," Arwen replied, turning back to her project.

"Please don't," Elladan said.

Elrohir rose smoothly, leaning over to kiss Arwen's cheek, "You are far too good to us."

"I know."

"And we appreciate it deeply," Elladan added. "At least, we do most of the time."

Arwen smiled, glancing at them again, "You better.  I'll see if I can talk Kili into letting me go with him, and if not I'll tail him."

"Thank you, sister dearest," Elladan said, scooping down to kiss her cheek.

"We owe you," her other brother said.

"And you both know I will collect."

"It would be silly of us at this point not to expect that," Elladan agreed and paused when Kili blazed through, only moments away from sunrise.

Arwen's eyebrows rose, "And you can start on that debt by dealing with him now."

Elladan blinked. "Alright. And that right there, I presume, is why we're supposed to be watching him."

Elrohir nodded slowly before starting in that direction, "Come on, we had better go rein him in before he encounters anyone else."

"Lovely," Elladan sighed and started up the stairs. "Kili, Kili come back."

Taking the stairs two at a time, Elrohir glanced at his brother, "Do we have any sort of plan?"

"After four hundred years and you're still asking me if I have plans?" Elladan asked. "Not die, keep him alive, and possibly get in a few pointed remarks."

Elrohir grinned at that, spotting Kili down the hall and picking up speed to catch the younger vampire.

"Go away," Kili snarled, already shooting him an angry glare.

"And leave you to run into the Lady or Lord on your own?" Elrohir arched a sharp eyebrow at that.

"Just because you're scared of them," Kili snapped. "Doesn't mean I have to be."

"You just haven't been around long enough," Elladan sighed, reaching out to have Kili jerk his shoulder away from the hand. "Hey, calm down."

"There is a difference between being scared and _respecting the power_ of a person," Elrohir replied sharply, catching Kili by the arm and all but shoving him into the nearby room.

Kili hissed. "Damn you, go away."

"We are actually trying to help," Elladan said. "Whether you want that or not."

Elrohir kicked the door closed behind them, "Snarling in the halls is the fastest way to get yourself noticed."

"It doesn't matter to you," Kili said, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring.

"You could just make it easier and tell us what's bothering you," Elladan said and shook his head.

"You know, rather than telling us what does or doesn't matter to us," Elrohir supplied.

"It is not your business," Kili said, jabbing Elrohir in the chest. "It has nothing to do with you so it does not matter to you. Stop meddling in everyone's affairs and thinking you are charming enough to get away with it."

Elrohir caught Kili's hand, arching an eyebrow at him, "You stalking your brother in life is something that could cost our family everything. Whether we're charming or not has nothing to do with it.  You're taking risks with your own life and the lives of everyone else in this household."

Kili rocked back on his heels. "You have no proof that I was there."

"I know you broke his hand that night you found us in the billiard room," Elrohir replied.  "I would hazard a guess that it surprised you how easy it was to do that."

Kili tensed, taking a step back. The comment had clearly hit home for him. "That--I will not harm him again."

"You put him at risk every time you follow him," Elrohir replied.  "You came home angry tonight.  What would you have done had you actually encountered him in that state?"

Kili didn't say that he had been close enough to touch Fili, but that had been before he found him curled around Bofur. "He was kissing someone else," he growled and Elladan stilled.

Elrohir froze, not even pretending to breath for a long moment, "Kili, does this upset you because he was doing that or because he might be moving on with his life?"

Looking at him sideways, Elladan shook his head slightly as Kili tensed. "Both, neither, I don't know. And with--" he cut off because he remembered liking Bofur, a gaze through a dark mirror where the other would laugh and offer drinks all around as every soul clearly needed them. "With who he chose," he finished, voice more muted.

Elrohir rubbed his eyes, a move that was reminiscent of his sire, "Does who he chose matter so much as that?  Kili, Fili matters and mattered to you and you to him. But do you really begrudge him healing even a little?"

"You clearly did," Kili snapped and Elladan shook his head lightly.

"We've--it's different. Four hundred years ago were different and neither of us were hunters."

"You would have killed anyone who touched Elladan," Kili told Elrohir. "No matter how much time had passed and you would never have watched him move on with his life."

"I would have done that before we were turned," Elrohir replied sharply.  "You have no idea the things I wanted to do to each and every possible betrothal that was brought to our family before the change."

"Then how can you claim that I should allow him to move on?" Kili snarled and Elladan reached forward to touch Elrohir's shoulder blades.

Elrohir drew an unneeded breath before answering evenly, "Because your brother is no more Elladan than you are me."

"But how can you judge here what is different and what is not?" Kili demanded. "I'm angry, I want to tear Bofur's very throat out for--"

"It's not the same," Elladan said faintly. "But while we are in no position blame you, this is why you must not go back."

"You're too close to this, Kili," Elrohir murmured. "You'll get yourself killed, permanently, and many of the rest of us as well."

Kili looked between them and abruptly shoved past them for the doorway. Elladan caught his arm and jerked him back. "Avoid him," Elladan said and Kili snarled again before jerking away and storming out.

Elrohir seemed to deflate as soon as Kili left, "He's going to get us staked."

"He's going to get himself staked," Elladan replied. "I'm not sure it's so simple as getting all of us staked. Maybe burned in a great bonfire."

"I don't care if he sees it as hypocritical.  It's not the bloody same."

For a moment Elladan's fingers twitched before he stilled them against his leg. "Isn't it?"

"No. It's not," Elrohir insisted, though he didn't entirely sound like he believed it.

"It's about love and family," Elladan said. "And none of us can say that didn't affect us."

"Yes, it's about love and family.  But his brother is trying to work toward recovering, or it sounds like it.  Love should, love should see that."

Elladan looked at him before he laughed, almost hysteric. "Brother, when has that ever been love? Love is passion, and jealousy, and Erestor destroyed an entire house in it and you and I have burned down palaces for it and you judge a child for feeling it?"

Elrohir shook his head, "Not in the least.  I blame him for dragging us down into it with him. Do you remember seeing them, hunting together that one time?"

"Maybe," Elladan said, hedging slightly. "What stands out to you so much you would mention it now?"

"How golden his brother was.  How much he looked like he belonged under sunlight rather than in shadows," Elrohir answered, looking toward the door.

"Yes," Elladan agreed. "Neither of them belong here but we have one of them." He paused, reached a hand up to curl around Elrohir's cheek, sliding back into his hair. "And it seems a cruel trick for fate to play to separate them."

Elrohir leaned into the touch, "It is. And now we must continue it.  No matter what Kili thinks of us."

"I wish Thranduil would at least be there," Elladan said. "He's been with Celeborn on the hunt and otherwise locked in his own rooms. I do not understand his mind."

"Which in some ways has probably been wise of him, but in others has left his childe with no guidance during a point where it's important."

Elladan rested his chin on Elrohir's shoulder. "But he has us at least. Even if he should have his sire."

"Do you think Thranduil is ever going to deal with the fact that he has a second childe?" Elrohir asked, leaning against his brother.

"He barely dealt with his first," Elladan said. "But it is sunrise, so they cannot do anything else this night. Come."

Elrohir curled his hand with Elladan, "Thank goodness.  Nothing more we need to watch out for tonight." Elladan hummed, nuzzling against Elrohir's neck. Elrohir arched his neck to give him better access. Tilting Elladan's chin up he kissed him, pressing him back against the wall.

-0-

Bilbo startled from his window shopping when he heard a faint chittering.  Glancing to his left he saw a small red-haired form dressed in green leaves pointing down the street.  His gaze moved in that direction and he nodded, "Remind me you get the first outfit."  The pixie smirked and flew away to boast to the others that it had found the first of their targets and the larger fae had promised that it would have the first pick of the elegant green clothes he had promised them for their help.  It wasn't thanks when the payment was agreed upon beforehand.

Drawing a deep breath, Bilbo moved quickly down the street, coming to a stop at the same store front Dis was currently looking at, "Imagine meeting you here, Dis, is it?"

She turned to him, arching a dark eyebrow, "Yes, it is.  You're the librarian, Bilbo, correct?"

He offered her a smile and a very slight bow, "Guilty as charged.  I saw you from up the street and wished to say hello."

Dis still considered him almost warily, "Hello.  It isn't often you're seen out of the library, except for the delivery of that fruit basket."

"There was bread too," he replied.

That finally earned a quirk of her lips, "So I heard."

"Do you mind if I walk with you?"

"I know nothing about you," Dis replied.  "You can walk with me if you'll answer my questions."

Bilbo shrugged as though he didn't mind that at all, while internally he was hoping they would be questions that vague answers would suffice for, "Not at all. It seems only fair, what with you not knowing me and all."

She nodded, turning to continue on her way down the street, "Where are you from?"

"A place I try not to talk too much about," he answered with a shrug.

"Bad memories?"

"Oh, no, not at all."  He paused, trying to find an honest answer, "I just dislike talking about a place that is so far removed from here.  I'm not ready to return there to live, so why think on it?"

Dis hummed, filing that away and wondering who she might talk to who would know more about the librarian's origins, "What do you intend toward my brother?"

Bilbo blinked rapidly at her, before shaking his head and smiling, "To get to know him.  He's an interesting man.  And a handsome one.”

"And stubborn and disinclined toward romantic entanglements," Dis warned, coming to a stop and turning to face Bilbo. "Answer me this honestly, what do you want with my family?"

He blinked again, rocking back on his heels, "Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean that you have gone to coffee with my brother, and now you have sought me out on a public street.  What do you want?”

"To talk with you about what your brother asked me when he came to the library the last time," Bilbo answered.  "It's important that you understand what I told him and why."

"When he came to ask you about the hell portals.  What did you tell him that you seem to think so important to impart to me as well?"  Dis crossed her arms, leaning against the wall of a building.

"This was not the only portal that will open.  This is a, a prelude.  A first act.  It's a smaller scale destruction.  It's the lead-in to a true portal of hell that will open and allow a devourer to enter the world."

"A devourer?" she pressed.

Bilbo nodded, "Specifically, based on what I've heard, Smaug.  Devourers are the sort of demon who arrive on earth to either enslave or destroy it in its entirety.  There hasn't been a portal that released a creature of this magnitude since the days of Durin."

Dis frowned, "And why are you telling me this?"

He hesitated briefly, "Because a portal of this sort cannot be closed by one sort of person, or creature, or anything of that ilk.  It takes a concerted effort."

She froze, staring him down as her voice turned cold, "You expect us to work with the vampires?"

"Expect it?  No.  But I hope you will at least consider it.  The destruction of the world is imminent.  It doesn't even have to be a permanent truce, you can go back to staking them once it's closed and Smaug is defeated," he insisted.

"Why would you ever think we would so much as consider this?  After all they've done!" she snarled, tone low so others would not overhear.

"They cost you far more than you ever should have had to pay," Bilbo said quietly.  "They cost you your son.  But the world is going to end, and with it you and the rest of your family, and everyone else."

Dis pushed off the wall, "You've no proof."

"Not yet, no.  Just the sings that came with the last portal.  But, please, consider what I've said.  I cannot find the words to express to you have severe this situation is or how _deadly_ this demon.  He wants nothing but to see this world disappear into flames.  He _will_ end it if he can.  And he has it within his power to do so."

She brushed past him, "Don't come near me until you can speak sense.  Until then you're nothing more than a fool and a consorter with vampires.  Do you understand me?"

He drew back several steps, but nodded, "Just think about what I said.  That's all I ask."  Before she could respond he slipped away into one of the shops.

-0-

Pausing in the doorway, body held perfectly still and erect, Galadriel watched Thranduil pace in the small room. The windows were covered with blackout shades but the vampires could still feel the sun outside like they were aware of other enemies.

"You are not actually my sire," Thranduil said. "You and your husband seem to forget that I do not belong to you.”

Galadriel swept into the room. "It is never the case that a sire may command their childe who does not listen, no matter what some of the fiction would have you believe," she said, carefully sitting in a dark wooden chair, hands folded on her lap. "But you asked to be taken in by myself and my own long ago. We have always kept our side of that bargain."

"I was never made aware there were conditions," Thranduil said.

"Celeborn tells me you are unhappy," Galadriel said instead of rising to his ire.

Thranduil stopped to turn toward her. "How could I not be with he or Elrond or yourself breathing down my neck every night?"

"It is not a punishment meted out to you alone," Galadriel said. "None go out alone now. Not with the hunters so angry nor with Hell opening itself."

Pausing in his pacing, Thranduil turned to face her, hands clasped behind his back and holding himself as still as she ever did. "You consider me irresponsible, do you not?"

"Do not confuse me with my husband," she said. "He angers quicker, even after all these years than I." She paused, tilting her chin slightly as she considered him. "I do believe that you are reckless, and that you would rather believe you had power than love."

He scoffed but took a small step backwards nonetheless. "For vampires, your line is awfully insistent on love."

"If you disagreed so much," she said, tone idle. "You would have already driven off both your childes instead of only one. Though it certainly appears like you are trying at the moment. You should not let your ideals blind you to what is in front of you. I have seen such notions before."

"So you compare me to Feanor," Thranduil said. "I am flattered."

"You should not be," she said, rising in one fluid motion. "He destroyed himself and all those who loved him. And you are but a pale shadow of what he was."

Thranduil's face tightened. "Did you have a point, m'lady?"

"Simply that if you do not wish to lose those who might have cared for you, you are going about it the wrong way."

He scoffed again, shaking his head in a tiny and quick motion. "If you say so." They considered each other for a moment and she tilted a shoulder back as if to leave. "I do not believe we should seek an alliance with the hunters."

Freezing, she slowly turned back, eyes blank as she surveyed him. "If you do anything to endanger a possible alliance," she said. "You will be cast out the face the dangers of hell alone. And demons do not take kindly to those who were once human, however removed they wish to act."

She breezed out of the room, long hair flowing behind her and he scowled. Pacing the room again, he kicked at the chair leg where she had been sitting and could not knock her words out of his head.

-0-

Nori knocked his knuckles against the back of Bofur's head. "Look, I can understand Fili and Thorin and the general level of grief and moping going on in the house but you have got to get out and remember to have fun again before the guilt eats you whole."

Bofur leaned his head away from that, looking at Nori and pausing before finally offering him a hint of his grin, "What d'you have in mind?"

"Drinks," Nori said, his answer for everything. "It's happy hour so we'll be out before it's dark."

The brunet pulled himself to his feet, "Sounds like a plan to me.  We takin' anyone else with us?"

Nori shrugged. "If anyone else wants to but frankly I don't care that much."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Bofur asked, "First round's on you."

"Isn't it always?" Nori asked, heading for the door, knives already tucked into his jacket in case they ran into trouble.

Bofur grabbed his own coat, a few smaller weapons concealed in the pockets, as he followed Nori out the door, "And the second's always on me."

"See, this is why understanding each other is good," Nori said, walking with his hands in his pockets, one finger always near a stake in one and the other holding a knife.

"What do you think of all the insanity that's going on?" Bofur asked after a moment.

"Which part of it?" Nori asked.

"Not really sure," he answered with a shrug.  "Any of it?  You're the one who saw hell open up."

 "Oh, that," Nori sighed and shrugged. "I mean, it's closed right? I'm not Oin, I don't think something else is going to randomly open again."

"Well, here's to the fact you're right, yeah?" Bofur offered him a glance as they reached the bar.

Nori shrugged, clearly not wanting to talk about it. The portal had been odd enough let alone the vampire that had crawled through it. "Yeah. Tonight we get drunk."

"Very drunk.  It has been way too long," Bofur agreed, settling at the bar. Nori happily ordered the first round, as there was plenty he didn't want to think about. By the time they left after quite a few rounds of drinks, the sun hadn't set, but it was a long way along its decent and the shadows were quickly lengthening.

-0-

Fili blinked at the cup put in front of him. "You and tea," he said as Ori puttered around the kitchen, a book held in front of his face.

"I like tea," Ori said, checking on the soup he was making and turning the next page, frowning at the diagram.

Shrugging, Fili automatically started drinking. "I'm still surprised Dori let you have an official go at his books.”

"Scary days produce scary results," Ori shrugged, still not looking away and Fili shook his head at him.

The front door banged open and Bofur and Nori all but stumbled in. Bofur entered the kitchen, grinning when he saw Ori and Fili there before he plopped down in the chair across the table from Fili, "You need to get out of the house."

Fili startled back slightly and Nori just laughed, leaning against Ori who seemed used to supporting his half drunk brother. "He's not wrong," Nori said and tried to taste Ori's soup only to be batted away.

Bofur nodded agreeing with Nori's support, "You've been in the house too long and too much.  We should go out.  Not tonight, though, it's already getting dark.  But tomorrow."

Blinking at him, Fili opened his mouth to say something against that and just nodded. "Alright,” he agreed, a shade warily.

That earned a wider grin, Bofur's expression lighting up as though he'd been half-expecting a different answer, "Great.  So we should definitely do that."

"Yeah," Fili said, still looking slightly unsure as Ori and Nori continued their scuffle over the soup. "But right now you look like you should be in bed or something."

Tilting his head to one side slightly, the brunet blinked and then nodded, "Maybe I should.  Don't much like beds though."

Fili sighed, glancing at the brothers before leaning forward to be a bit closer. "I know. But you should at least get up the stairs."

Considering that for a moment, Bofur finally nodded again, getting to his feet and steadying himself against the table, "Upstairs, right that is the first step, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Fili agreed, pushing himself to his feet and ignoring the look Ori was giving him. "Come on, I'll help."

"You'll, thank you," Bofur said, offering the brothers a half wave. "Good night!"

"Good night," Nori called back. "Hey, you could share the soup..."

"I'm not not sharing the soup," Ori said, shoving his shoulder again. "But it needs to actually cook first."

It took a bit longer than normal, but Fili and Bofur made it upstairs to Bofur's room and the brunet looked around the room, trying to figure out if Fili telling him he needed to go to bed meant he could still get away with the couch.

"So you and Nori went out drinking," Fili said, for something to say.

Bofur nodded, "He said I needed to get out.  He wasn't wrong, I haven't been out except for errands or patrols in a while."

"That's not terribly healthy," Fili said, not quite considering the irony. "Can you get yourself mostly undressed?"

"You've been out less than I have," Bofur pointed out.  "And I'm sober enough to get undressed."

"Alright," Fili said, stepping back, not bothering to disagree with the first statement.

Bofur paused for a moment, watching the younger man before shaking off whatever thoughts had been in his mind and shrugged out of his coat, pulling his shirt over his head and kicking off his shoes, though he nearly off-balanced when he tried that.

"Perhaps not," Fili said, catching his shoulder.

Bofur offered him a sheepish grin, "Should probably sit down to deal with my shoes and socks, yeah?"

"Yeah," Fili agreed, shoving him toward the couch lightly. "Come on," he said and then bent down to deal with Bofur's shoes himself.

Bofur sat down hard, but reached down with the intention of stopping Fili, "I can do that."

"I can do it faster," Fili said, not looking up.

That earned a chuckle, "Okay, you're probably right."

Shoes and socks off, Fili leaned back and stopped when he seemed to register where he was sitting, hastily moving to stand. Bofur blinked up at him for a moment before pushing himself to his feet, narrowly avoiding off-balancing back onto the couch again.

"You really should just stay down," Fili said, reaching a hand out to steady him again.

"Don't really want to," Bofur replied, catching hold of Fili's hand.

Blinking, Fili's eyes startled up. "Yeah? Well you're the one who's swaying around here."

"Alright, so maybe I'm a bit tipsy," Bofur admitted, his free hand moving to cup FIli's cheek.

"Or a lot," Fili laughed, swallowing against the touch. "Didn't I say that you should go to sleep?"

Bofur shook his head, "Pretty sure you never said that."

"I--" Fili paused. "Alright, I said you should go to bed but sleep is generally what someone does in bed."

"Generally," he agreed, amiably.  "Don't much like beds though."

"So you've told me," Fili said. "Though I don't understand why." He swayed slightly, aware of where Bofur was touching him and wishing it didn't feel like such a big deal or make his face feel warm.

"They're too big.  Empty," came the honest answer.

"You could get a smaller bed," Fili said and carefully didn't say that Bofur could also find someone to fill it because he already felt too aware of that possibility.

"Seems a lot of trouble, really," Bofur mused, thumb absently rubbing along Fili's cheekbone.

"It would be easier than hurting your back in the long run," Fili said, meeting his eyes and regretting it.

Bofur paused for the briefest of moments, gaze fixed on Fili's, before he leaned in and kissed the younger man, fingers curling into the other's hair. Fili melted against him, sparing a thought for the fact it should not be this easy for Bofur to make him feel faint. He carefully slid his arms around Bofur's back.

Bofur drew him closer, lips parting very slightly as he pressed into the kiss, some part of him aware that he probably wasn't quite sober enough for this to be a good decision. Shifting and letting his mouth drop open, Fili felt a noise claw out of his throat he hadn't intended. Licking his way into Fili's mouth, Bofur pressed against the other, not sure how to react to the feel of Fili's shirt against his bare skin.

Fingers skittering along Bofur's spine, Fili started to shift back and decided he didn't want to, fighting Bofur's tongue in his mouth with his own. Bofur moaned at that, fingers tangling in Fili's hair as he yanked him even closer, no space left between them. Fili's breath left him all at once and he had to pull his mouth back to catch it again, fingers still digging into Bofur's skin.

Bofur's breathing was uneven and his eyes dilated as he ran a hand through Fili's hair, trying to catch his breath as well. Swallowing hard, Fili leaned back to drag his mouth over Bofur's quickly before moving back again. "You--I said you should get in to bed didn't I?"

Bofur nodded, "You did."

Fili suddenly flushed. "I-I mean, I said you that wasn't..."

"Stay with me tonight?" Bofur asked, watching Fili.

Fili felt his heart jump up in his throat and attempt to claw out of his body. "H-how do you mean?" he asked, hands still resting on Bofur's shoulder blades.

"I mean stay here," Bofur answered, looking mildly confused to be repeating himself.

"And do what?" Fili asked and couldn't help nuzzling back against Bofur's cheek, curling his body up into the embrace.

"Come to bed with me," came the reply, Bofur pulling Fili closer as he spoke.

"We're not having sex for the first time when you're drunk," Fili said though it sounded like it was a painful sentence for him to get out.

Bofur paused slightly at that, but nodded, "Alright."

Fili swallowed and nodded, color high on his cheekbones for having blurted out such a sentence. "Alright," he said. "Then I'll come to bed."

That earned a smile and another, short, kiss from Bofur before he stepped back, still not entirely steady.

"Come on," Fili said, shuffling him toward the bed and making sure he was down before getting a glass of water to leave at the bedside. He hesitated a moment at the side of the bed before he pulled off the rough shirt he was wearing and his pants, leaving him in boxers and a tee-shirt before he crawled into the bed with wariness.

Bofur rolled over, sliding an arm under his pillow to prop himself up a little bit, and met Fili's eyes, "You're incredible."

"I--" Fili blinked up at him. "No I'm not. Just," he reached up, pulling Bofur back down so he wouldn't be looking at him anymore. "Just go to sleep already. You're still drunk."

"Drunk or sober I still think that," Bofur replied quietly, but settled down under the blankets.

Fili pressed his nose against his collarbone. "I still--don't say it."

Bofur hesitated before combing his fingers through Fili's hair, "Alright, I'll try not to."

Fili paused, almost leaving it there and trying to fall asleep. "I don't understand how you say such things so easily."

"Because they're true," Bofur answered simply.  "They always have been."

"But how can you say them out loud?" Fili said. "Whether they're true or not to actually speak the words--I don't get it."

He shrugged, "I don't know, I just do I guess."

"I," Fili said and stopped, twining his hands around Bofur's shoulders and holding on. "Just because I'm not good at talking about things--it doesn't mean I don't feel them. You get that, right?"

Bofur nodded, "I, yeah, I get that."

"Alright," Fili said. "You should go to sleep."

"You should too.  You don't sleep enough," Bofur murmured, already sounding like he was starting to drift.

"I will," Fili murmured, caught between exhaustion and wondering how he would fall asleep pressed against Bofur. Bofur offered him a tired smile at that, finally closing his eyes and falling asleep soon after.

Fili stayed awake only a little longer, curled against Bofur and matching their breath before his heart rate finally slowed enough for him to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In celebration of the Desolation of Smaug midnight premier tomorrow have--er--what we have. (I honestly thought we had enough for a full chapter, ugh, apologizes for the somewhat shorter offering. Grad school, as ever is to blame.)
> 
> The Line of Durin: Totally capable of being emotionally mature and talking out their feelings. /Totally./


	11. I'm Staring to Get What We're Not

"You've become obsessed with those books," Nori said, leaning over the couch where Ori was once again curled around one of Dori's tomes.

"I have a lot to catch up on," he replied.

Dori paused in the doorway, leaning against the frame as he considered his youngest brother, "You really shouldn't read them all at once.  There's a lot of information to process there."

"It's not... quite all at once," Ori tried to protest.

“Except for the books you had already snuck out of my library, it practically is."

"So you noticed that then?" Ori asked and Nori shook his head, ignoring the fact he could still feel the pleasant pulse of alcohol.

"Of course we noticed."

"You were subtle about it, but you weren't _that_ subtle," Dori responded.

"They're just books," Nori said after a beat. "You can't actually learn that much from books."

"You can learn some, though," Dori said, looking toward their youngest brother.  "It's applying it practically that needs to be worked on now."

Ori stilled, as if he was still believing that was actually something that was being offered to him. "When?"

"Tomorrow afternoon, for a few hours to get started."

Ori tried not to quiver right off the couch in excitement. Even though he was fairly certain at some point he would have to talk to his brother's about Dis' training, there was something about the legitimization of Dori's permission. "Alright," he said, hoping he affected a neutral tone, but Nori's snigger proved that wrong quickly enough.

Dori arched an eyebrow at that, shaking his head slightly though his lips twitched upward at the corners, "So that's decided then.  Tomorrow afternoon we'll see about adding some practical knowledge tot eh theoretical information you're gathering."

Ori nodded, the motion a little too quick even as he held the book up against his chest and Nori reached out to ruffle his hair, even though his eyes were sad. "Look at the little one, all grown up."

"Haven't I been for a while?" Ori returned.

Dori's lips quirked very slightly at that, his expression pensive, "I suppose you have at that.'

Ori looked at him with a shade too much surprise. "I expected you to be telling me I still wasn't grown up when I was eighty," he said and Nori tried to laugh instead of say anything about their lifespan.

"You'll always be the little brother," he said, ruffling Ori's hair again. "But we can admit that you're maturing. It's different."

Dori snorted slightly, "I never thought to admit it out loud, but Nori's right.  You're maturing, though you're still our little brother and I'm still not happy with the idea."

"I thought you wanted me to mature and move forward," Ori said, a teasing tone in his voice.

Dori offered him a fondly exasperated look, "Just because I want you to, doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Well that's pretty contradictory," Ori said, Nori flopping to the ground next to where he sat and leaning his head back against Ori's side. "I mean, honestly, Dori."

Dori moved over to sit down nearby, shaking his head firmly, "Not at all. I want you to mature and move forward because it's good for you, but there's always a part of me that dislikes the thought of you growing up."

"But you make us--me--proud," Nori said, backhanding one of Ori's knees from where Ori sat with his back against the side of the couch. "You're smart like, and that's good."

Ori was starting to wonder about his own wisdom so he only sent a shaky smile down at his brother.

"What a day, I find myself agreeing with Nori twice," Dori drawled, but offered Ori a hint of a smile.

"Well, there goes the world," Ori said, casting his gaze toward the ceiling. "Just when I was starting to like it too."

That earned a short bark of a laugh from Dori, "Don't give up on it quite yet, it won't be long before Nori and I are back to disagreeing over everything, I'm sure."

"Say, have I mentioned how ugly that jacket is?" Nori drawled from the ground and Ori buried his face in his knees.

"Every time you see it since I purchased it," Dori replied acerbically.

"Good," Nori said. "It seriously looks like something a pig puked up."

"It looks a fair sight better than yours," came the sharp response.

"What's wrong with mine?" Nori asked, looking down at the leather. "It's a damned classic, is what it is!"

"Oh yes, very classic," Dori shook his head, "When was the last time anything 'classic' worked on you?"

"Excuse you?" Nori said, and Ori had sketched the exact expression on his face many times, the one where he squared his shoulders and put his chest out, like a cat ruffling its fur to make itself bigger in anger.

"Well, really, Nori, your taste has never been classic.  What you consider classic is an affront to good taste when you wear it," Dori responded.

Ori was saved trying to stop either of his brothers by Gimli clearing his throat by the door, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Say, Ori," he said and Ori was already closing his book and pushing to his feet. "Do you mind running out with me?"

"Why Ori?" Nori asked, attention suddenly focusing on Gimli.

Dori's gaze honed in on Gimli, his eyebrows arching sharply upward, "Where are you thinking of going at this hour?"

"To see a movie," he said promptly. "It's not far, it's perfectly safe."

"Besides, sometimes us young people need to get away from you old stooges," Ori said, tone prim and Nori just arched a long brow at him.

"And you'll be back when?" Dori asked, still fixing Gimli with a stare.

"Three hours," he said.

"And a half, possibly," Ori added. "You know, adding in popcorn and line time."

Dori glanced at the clock and then at Nori, frowning slightly before finally nodding, "Three and a half hours, you had better be back by then."

"If not, you can send out the search parties," Ori said, already hurrying Gimli for the door.

"Don't think I won't," Dori called after them, still frowning.

"Believe me, I would never doubt it," Ori said over his shoulder.

Nori frowned at the doorway they had passed through. "Did that seem--oddly blasé for the pair of them?"

"Very," Dori murmured.  "I'm sorely tempted to follow them and see what film--" He paused, "Or we could simply see if there is actually a movie showing."

"I hope to god my little brother is better at lying than that," Nori said.

"Well, it's that or follow them right now before they get too far."

Nori paused. "We were just trying to convince him we believed in him. But if he is doing something stupid we might not get a second chance."

Dori worried his lower lip between his teeth before getting to his feet and going to grab his coat, "Come on."

Before they could get very far, Thorin appeared from around his office. "Dori," he said, "I need you to patrol tonight." He paused, noticing both the brothers heading for the door around the same time, Nori still tipsy. "Is something going on?"

"Not at all, we were headed out to our house was all," Dori said.  "Of course I can patrol," he'd finally gotten the cast off to just a splint.

"Only if you are well enough and have no other pressing needs," Thorin said, glancing up the stairs and wondering that he had not seen Fili all night.

Dori nodded, "I'm fine, so yes I can do that."  He glanced at his brother, hoping Nori was steady enough to follow Ori.

Frowning at him, Nori ticked off mentally if there was anyone he could drag out with him before shrugging and slipping out the door alone. "Is something happening?" Thorin asked, giving Nori's single departure a dark look.

"Ori and Gimli stepped out to a film, Nori was going to make sure they get home safely," Dori answered.  "Is there anyone you're sending out with me?"

"Myself," Thorin said, looking at the stairs again before deciding--once again--that anything he wanted to say to Fili could wait. Dori nodded slightly, checking for his weapons and heading for the door again.

-0-

Elladan leaned over Legolas' shoulder, watching Gimli and Ori approach. They were at least nearby the movie theater if not actually there. Legolas was studiously trying to ignore the way Elrohir was all but draped around Elladan as they waited, he pushed away from the twins to take a couple steps toward Gimli and Ori, offering Gimli a quirk of his lips, "Glad you made it out."

"It was easy enough it probably won't happen again," Ori said, hands in his pockets as he considered the twins. "Why do I get the feeling we'll be stuck together again?"

Elrohir grinned, "Because Legolas has agreed that he needs an alibi, but refuses to let us actually sit close enough to listen in."

"I can't say I'm not thankful for that," Gimli said under his breath.

"It's a good move," Ori agreed, shifting his shoulders back.

Elrohir snorted, "You are no fun at all."

Legolas offered him a vaguely icy look, "You two have plenty on me without needing to listen in too."

"Oh, please tell me I get to hear that," Ori said. "Actually, we should switch sometime, and I could tell Legolas all your embarrassing childhood stories and the twins could tell you about the failures of immortality."

"Ori!" Gimli choked and Elladan had to catch himself on his brother's shoulder he was laughing so hard.

Elrohir was not much help supporting his twin, as he managed to hold off laughing only long enough to catch the look of horror that crossed Legolas' face, "Oh heaven and hellfire, yes we really must do that."

"Ori, I will tell Dori you used to read his books," Gimli hissed. "Even the magic ones."

"Dori doesn't have magic books," Ori replied.

"Oh yes he does," Gimli said. "Because you told me he does when you found the damn things."

“And I'm sure I can find something to pass on to Elrond," Legolas offered the twins a smile after a moment.

Elrohir waved a dismissive hand, "But then who would come out with you to these trysts?"

"Arwen won't, we can promise you that much," Elladan added and Ori stored the name away.

"Which means you asked her?"  Legolas considered that, "Damn."

“Someone had to look after--" Elladan said and cut off, glancing at the two hunters. "Well," he finished lamely.

"I expect good tea this time," Ori said, letting the slip go.

"I know just the place," Elrohir said.  "It's about two blocks from here, serves good tea, good coffee, and the richest chocolate you'll find."

"Chocolate, good," Ori said, falling in step with the twins as Gimli fell behind with Legolas.

"It's been quiet, lately, hasn't it?" he asked, voice lowered, watching the almost easy way Ori talked to the vampires.

Legolas nodded very slightly, "Far quieter than anyone expected.  As much as I like the quiet, considering what happened with the portal it's unnerving."

"It just makes me think something else is coming," Gimli said, frowning at Ori. "He... handles this well."

"This?  Meeting with us or the rest of this mess?" Legolas glanced at him before considering Ori and the twins.

"Vampires," Gimli said. "He didn't try to stake you all on sight."

"For which I'm very grateful, though admittedly confused.  What's his story?"

"His story?" Gimli said with a huff of laughter. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you at least attempted to stake me when we met, I'm just trying to sort out why he didn't," Legolas shrugged.  "You both confuse me."

"Well, he," Gimli started and paused. "We're all from the Line of Durin. So we're all hunters. But we're not Thorin's kids or favorites or whatever. I know how to throw a stake in theory, not reality. His mom died when he was pretty little, so his brother decided that he didn't want Ori to have anything to do with, well, vampires. So he's never even been trained--formally--though I don't think telling Ori no to anything would ever actually work."

Legolas frowned at that, "I'm trying to figure out how to say 'he should be trained' without sounding contradictory to my own interests.  And frankly, you should have more than a theoretical knowledge."

"Or they just wanted their offspring to be mentally adjusted," Gimli said. "After watching Thorin and Dis have a go at it." He flushed when he realized what he said and kicked stones as they walked. "Dori wanted Ori to go to art school, get away from everything. Ori points out that vamps are everywhere, even art school."

"They must care for you both a lot," Legolas said, something flickering in his blue eyes before he shook his head and dismissed the thoughts.

"Yeah, in their own ways," Gimli agreed. "Somewhat suffocating and oddly violent ways but hey my dad's never slammed me into a wall."

"Which probably means he never broke any of your bones either," Legolas mused.  "Sometimes suffocating isn't that bad."

Gimli looked at him sideways. "You wanna tell me that story or shall I just go into the stammering attempts to justify Thorin because he's our leader and we all love him anyway--god help us."

The vampire shrugged, a simple twitch of his shoulders, "He seems a charismatic man.  And there's nothing to tell."

"Yeah well Thorin didn't break anyone's bones," Gimli said. "And you get real quiet about this stuff."

"It's from a different life," Legolas responded, his tone clipped.

"So we're not there yet," Gimli said and hesitated before taking Legolas' hand, sliding their palms together.

Startling slightly at that, Legolas looked down at their hands for a brief moment before his lips twitched into a hint of a smile, "No, not yet."

"Where are we?" Gimli asked. "Because I'm risking a hell of a lot every time we--" and he blanched before he finished. "No, that wasn't supposed to be a guilt trip."

"We're both risking a lot," Legolas replied, his eyebrow twitching up slightly. "We're not yet to a place where I talk about someone who's been rotting under the soil for more than a century and a half."

"No, I get that I wasn't trying to say otherwise," Gimli said and kicked at rocks again but he did not drop Legolas' hand. "But that doesn't make the question of where we _are_ any less valid. I’m starting to get what we’re not."

Legolas glanced ahead at the twins and Ori, seeing the cafe coming up a few storefronts down and pulled Gimli to a stop, turning to face him, "Where do you think we are?"

"I don't know," he said, not looking up. "I think we talk enough that we're friends, which is scary enough on its own, let me tell you but--"

"I for one don't want t stay in that state," came the frank response.

Gimli flushed. "Good, that’s—That’s—I figured that."

Legolas tilted his head to one side for a moment before leaning down and kissing Gimli, his hand curled around the back of the other's neck. Gimli tensed, not moving forward or away until he barely tilted his chin back toward Legolas' greater height.

Legolas drew back after a moment, hand still on the back of Gimli's neck as he scanned the other's face.

"Alright," Gimli said after a beat. "I guess--I guess that's the answer. I want to ask how many times you've done that."

"Far fewer than you probably think," he answered, lowering his hand.

"So seducing people with mortal lifespans while you live on isn't a thing?" Gimli asked.

"Some do it, I've never seen the point," Legolas replied.

"Then why do it now?" Gimli asked. "Or I'm going to have to start asking you about your intentions, like someone out of those BBC programs that always seem to be on the TV, though no one admits to turning them on."

"I don't know, or rather I don't have an answer I can articulate, yet," Legolas answered.

Gimli stared at him, aware that Ori and the twins were watching them, aware that Legolas had kissed him and he had barely responded, even though he had been unable to sleep for nights thinking about what such a kiss would feel like. "You said fewer times than I probably think," he said instead. "How many is a few?"

"Once," he paused at that and then grimaced, "no, no twice.  There was an attempt at a relationship about thirty years ago that ended in a fight and just fell to pieces after less than two weeks."  He ran a hand over the back of his neck, glancing away and shaking his head, "So once and a half?"

Gimli stared at him a moment too long. "And what happened to the one?"

Legolas shifted back on his heels at that, expression shuttering slightly, "It was nearly a century ago.  He died decades past."

Gimli stared at him, something he had vaguely been wondering solidifying in his mind. "I can't," he said after another beat.

The blond fell very still at that, "What?"

"I'm eighteen," he said, inching toward the shop where Ori was. "I've kissed a girl once. I'm not ready to be the look in someone's eye like that in a hundred years."

Legolas watched him as though trying to figure out if there was any way to respond to that which would involve a different result.  He finally nodded as he did his best to ignore the way Elrohir's eyes had widened, "I understand."

"You understand," Gimli repeated, frowning.

"As best I can," Legolas amended, wetting his lips before speaking again.  "It's a lot to ask, a lot to expect.  But you're also assuming that either of us will live long enough for that to be a concern."

Wavering at the door, Gimli looked back at him. "Because of the end of the world?"

Legolas nodded, "Which I'm not actually saying is a reason to pursue this, since a part of me would like to expect that the world _isn't_ going to end."

"But if it does," Gimli said. "It'd be a waste of the last few months we might have.”

That earned a confused frown, "Are you saying you want to pursue this?  Because you just told me you couldn't."

"I don't know," Gimli admitted.

Legolas sighed, looking toward the coffee shop, "Where does that leave us?"

"Did I not just admit to knowing nothing?" Gimli said. "I like you," and that covered barely anything about how he felt, or the ache under his chest bone or his inability to look anywhere else. "But it scares me and I'm not sure I can do anything about it."

"I," he paused, drawing himself together to answer.  "I like you too," those words felt like dust, too bare to cover what went though his mind which he could barely begin to articulate on good days.  "Can we, can we at least get coffee tonight?  And just, see where things go?"

"Yeah," Gimli said gruffly, nodding. "We--we can do that."

Legolas managed a weak smile and finally entered the shop, glancing at Gimli.  Elrohir watched the pair of them from where he was seated, half-leaning against his twin. "That's the expression of a fairytale romance," Ori said, watching them as one finger ran around the top of his tea cup.

"That's the expression of two people absolutely terrified by romance," Elrohir corrected, sipping his hot chocolate.

"Which you would know?" Ori asked and Elladan looked sideways first at his brother and then at Ori.

"Yes," he said before Elrohir could.

Elrohir glanced at his twin, arching an eyebrow, "I've seen it a few times."

Ori was watching Elladan who shrugged. "What? You grow up catholic and in love with your brother and see how scared you are."

"I'm good, thanks," Ori said.

Elrohir chuckled, "It helps that we can't set foot in a church anymore."  He leaned a bit further against Elladan, "But I suppose we'll see how they manage to sort it out themselves.  If they can rather."

"We can't marry and carry on the line anymore either," Elladan said. "It makes everything easier."

"They'll figure it out," Ori said, with more conviction than he felt.

"Here's hoping," Elrohir agreed, though he sounded skeptical.  "What of you, Ori?  Anyone interesting in your life?"

Ori choked on the next swallow of tea. "No."

"That's a convincing denial," Elladan drawled, handing him a napkin.

"I think the last time I heard a denial that convincing, Legolas was hiding Gimli's number," Elrohir supplied, his lips quirking upward.

"There isn't anyone," Ori said and narrowed his eyes. "Don't smirk, there isn't."

Elrohir took another drink of his chocolate, looking over the edge of his cup at Ori, "No one at all?"

Ori looked at both of them for a moment, before pushing himself to his feet. "If you'll excuse me."

"Where are you going?" Elladan asked, tilting his neck back.

"The bathroom, if that's quite alright with you two," Ori said, already moving off, Elladan arching a brow behind him.

"That was a neat avoidance."

"Well, now I'm curious," Elrohir said, watching Ori leave.  "I'm thinking it's either not reciprocated or it's a situation where certain people don't know about it."

"Or he's just lonely," Elladan said. "I'm not sure I've got a handle on how to read him really. But that was a clear dismissal."

"Can't get a read on him because he's almost as good at avoidance as we can be," Elrohir shook his head.  "I like him though.  That much I know."

"Probably because he's a fair bit like us," Elladan teased. "And we're noted as narcissists."

That earned a grin, "Oh entirely.  And proud of being narcissists too."

Ori pushed the door to the bathroom open, looking more at his feet than where he was going before he heard a sickening crunch and looked up. He froze to see two hunched over figures, their spines twisted and curved crouched on the sink, a body between them with flesh ripped out in chunks as they ate, blood on their mouths.

For a second Ori only stared at them, and they at him before he ran, feet taking a second to get under him on the tiled floor.

Elrohir's head snapped up at the sound of hurried footsteps from the direction of the bathroom.  He glanced at his twin, "You hear that?"

Elladan moved so quickly several human patrons did a double take before dismissing it as a trick of the light, though Gimli tensed from where it caught his eye. Meeting Ori before he reached the floor, Elladan spared a glance for what was chasing him before twirling him around and shoving him toward the main room.

Elrohir was at his brother's side in an instant, sparing barely a glance for Ori as he sized up the two demons, "We're going to have to deal with them in the hall, there's no other route out of here."

"Yes," Elladan agreed as one of the demons ran at him. Catching it around the waist he threw himself forward and turned, swinging the demon into the other one and further away from the main room.

Moving swiftly to follow that action, Elrohir glanced briefly at the walls in the hope of some sort of weapon.  When none came to hand, he ducked under the demon's claws and slammed into its stomach, sending it crashing into the wall.

"Do you think they have a kitchen with knives?" Elladan asked, breaking one of the demon's arms, trying to muffle the howl it sent up.

"Hopefully, as I have nothing," Elrohir responded, flipping his opponent over his shoulders and barely avoiding the claws again.  He reached for the demon's throat but had to jump back quickly to avoid getting skewered.

"It's not fair they have claws," Elladan said, jumping off the wall and around the demon. He startled when Ori appeared. "What are you--get--" he stopped when Ori shoved a long knife at him and scampered back out of the hallway, catching the attention of one of the demons.

Elrohir's smile was nearly manic as he caught the demon by the back of its neck and yanked it further into the hall before it could pursue Ori, "And where do you think you're going my fine fellow?"  He released it and slipped out of reach before the claws could come into play, "If this was fair they wouldn't even be here, brother."

"Love that the hunters at least remember to bring weapons," Elladan said, throwing the knife and landing it in one of the demon's throats, watching it go down with a gurgle.

Elrohir yanked the knife out of the creature and swept up in an arc, the blade slicing across the neck of the other demon and nearly severing the head completely as he stepped back, "We may need to rethink the fact that we don't."

"Agreed, demons have more claws than humans, and harder necks," Elladan said, kicking one of the bodies as Ori looked around the corner again. "I don't recognize them. Glorfindel would probably know."

Elrohir bent down to wipe the blade off on one of the demons, "Which means asking him and getting him to see these."

"We could just bring back the head," Elladan said, jerking it off the body that was already almost decapitated and turning it around in his hands and he considered it.

Elrohir rose to his feet, considering the black blood staining his clothes and grimaced before offering the knife back to Ori hilt-first and still talking to his brother, "Which means we need to get out of here and manage to carry a head all the way back home.  At least it doesn't look human."

"Prop for the low budget horror film you're making," Ori said, though his voice was hollow as he took the knife back, glad he had taken Nori’s advice long ago to never be without a weapon one way or another.

The vampire nodded, looking at the carnage around them, "Which may be what we have to pass this mess off as too."

"It is popular now," Elladan agreed and looked up at Ori. "You should get home though. You and Gimli."

Elrohir looked toward Ori, "Go carefully, if these two were this brazen, there's no telling what the others might do."

"We will," Ori said, backtracking and grabbing Gimli by the shoulder. "We need to get home. Now."

"Those sounds--" Gimli said.

"Demons, currently headless," Ori said. "Let's go."

Legolas' blue eyes widened and he rose smoothly, "The twins?"

Elrohir appeared behind Ori, Elladan's coat over his arm as he pulled his own on to cover the black blood, "Present and accounted for.  We need to head home, ourselves."

Elladan strolled out with the demon head tucked under his arm, having dragged the other two out and dumped them in the alleyway. "Nothing to see here folks," he said when everyone turned to stare at him. "And sorry about the noise--filming a thing."

Holding the coat out to his brother, Elrohir took the demon head, offering an apologetic smile to the girl behind the counter, "Sorry, love."

Legolas' eyes were fixed on the demon head for a moment before his expression shifted to one of exasperation--though his eyes indicated how shaken he was, "Honestly, I cannot take you two anywhere.  It's always that damn film."

"You just can't get in the way of art," Elladan shrugged and hurried the others out as soon as he could.

-0-

Dori flexed the fingers on his left hand and grimaced at the slight twinge from his wrist, his right hand hovering close to where he kept his stakes, "It's been too quiet recently."

"All things considered," Thorin agreed, idly wanting a cigarette. "But considering all that's happened, I cannot find it in myself to consider that a bad thing."

"I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop," Dori admitted, eyes flickering around their surroundings for any motion.

Thorin looked at him sideways. "You have told me many times you believe in no portents of doom."

"I don't.  But disbelieving portents of doom and seeing a portal from hell spew forth demons and then not encounter them are two different things," Dori responded.

"You're brother seemed most convinced that night that the vampires were there to help us," Thorin said after a beat, scanning the street.

"I think he's right that they were there to close the portal, though I'm not certain I would say it was to help us," came the reply as Dori glanced down a side street.

"Either way, they saved the world," Thorin said, a frown pinching between his brows. "And you."

Dori nodded slightly, "Which was the most confusing part of that night.  The only one of them who even so much as paid us mind was the one we think came out of the portal itself."  His mouth twisted, "Unless I'm much mistaken the female one was Galadriel herself."

That gained Thorin's attention. "She is very old, is she not?"

"Centuries.  She was around in the time of Durin, according to some sources.  Longer than that even, according to others."

Thorin frowned. "That does not mean she cannot be killed, does it?"

"I think it means she has had enough experience to make it very, very difficult," Dori said, looking at his wrist briefly.  "I'm pretty certain it was she who broke my wrist."

Eyes sliding sideways, Thorin considered it for a moment. "Are there many other vampires that old?"

"Not according to the accounts I've found, though Celeborn may come close," the other answered.

Thorin frowned, eyes moving up the street and back down. "Did we know she was in town before this?"

"Not that I recall.  Which is why I wasn't sure it was her I encountered," Dori said.  "But based on the research I've been doing since then, it would appear that it's her.  She and Celeborn travel with a group usually."

"A group," Thorin repeated, increasingly unhappy with what he was hearing. "There is a group of ancient vampires in town and we did not realize it?"

The silver-haired hunter nodded after a moment, "Unfortunately that is what it's looking like.  She's never been known to arrive in a place without several others, at least not in recent centuries."

Thorin swore unhappily. "They want to ally with us," he said finally.

Dori fell still at that, "They _what_?"

"At least, that is what I am starting to believe," he said, shaking his head and viciously kicking a stone off the street, watching it thud away. "The librarian--he swears on his life he's never spoken to them and yet someone he knows has. He mentioned Galadriel and Celeborn by name, come to think of it."

"The librarian? What does he know about it?" Dori looked at Thorin, frowning under the streetlights.

"He knows that the portal opened," Thorin said, having spoken to no one else about this with Dwalin still gone, as he had been for months. "He says that another demon--Smaug, a devourer, intends to come through and eat the world."

"What makes them think that this, um, Smaug would come through?"

"Portents," he said, looking over at Dori and trying not to smile. "I assume."

Dori rolled his eyes skyward at that, "Of course they're relying on portents. I'll see if I can find anything on Smaug then I suppose.  Might as well be proactive whether those 'portents' are accurate or not.  At the very least I can see what can be found on devourers."

"Thank you, Dori," Thorin said, stretching his shoulders back. "The librarian--he even approached Dis."

"He went to your _sister_?"  Dori frowned, "Impulsive of him.  Or desperate."

"If the world really is ending," Thorin said. "Desperation would not surprise me."

"Then it would appear he, at least, believes it is," Dori considered that, looking down the street which was surprisingly empty.  "Have you seen him since then?"

"No," Thorin admitted. "I had planned to go see him again but," he shrugged, not actually sure what had stopped him.

"Well, he might have further information.  Though it would be more helpful to be able to talk to the person who's actually spoke with the vampires."

"As I said as well," Thorin said. "The librarian seems to think arranging a meeting is beyond his power."

Dori's eyebrows rose at that, "He has a way of contacting the other, surely."

"He claims, quite stringently, that the answer is no," Thorin said. "It does not do him any favors, as it makes him look untrustworthy."

Dori snorted, "That's one way of putting it.  I'm not sure I'm all that familiar with the librarian, actually."

"He came by the house," Thorin said. "After--" he cut off, still unable to talk about Kili.

"Right, I remember hearing about that.  Asked you to coffee, didn't he?"

"Indeed he did," Thorin said, sliding his hands into his pockets as they continued to walk the streets, checking for signs of vampire activity.

Dori kept his left wrist close against his body, his right hand tucked into his pocket and curled around the weapon there, his tone vaguely amused, "And however did that go?"

"Must you sound amused by the idea?" Thorin muttered. "It went as well as it could, I think."

"I'm trying to picture you sitting in a coffee shop.  It's an amusing image," Dori replied simply.

Thorin's look was unimpressed. "I drink coffee all the time," he said. " _In_ coffee shops. I even know how to order... grande mochas with whipped cream or whatever else is popular."

That earned a laugh, "I do not doubt your ability to read the special of the day, or even the menu itself."

If possible, Thorin's look became even more unimpressed. "How kind."

Dori's lips were still curved into a smile, but he inclined his head, "Not at all."

"The point was, that I can often be found in coffee shops," Thorin said, trying not to be surly.

"Of course," Dori agreed.  "I'm sure you often frequent them."

Thorin hummed, stopping on the street corner. "Things are too quiet," he said, looking up and down the next street.

"Weren't you just telling me that considering what's been happening that isn't the worst thing?"

"And aren't you the one worried about the other shoe dropping?"

"I am, yes," Dori agreed.  "I'm not sure what happens when it changes, or if we really want it to."

"There have been no attacks," Thorin said. "No rumors. But you yourself said demons walked out of that portal so _where are they_?"

"We may need to change the method of patrol, but we need to know what sorts of places they would frequent, how to fight them, things like that," Dori said.

"Then we’ll have to find out," Thorin said. "Which I suppose means going back to the library. That man that you've gotten books from in the past--is he still here?"

“Last I checked," Dori nodded.  "I'll see if I can reach him again."

“Good," Thorin nodded and turned to take the path that would lead them home through other streets.

-0-

At first Ori and Gimli were silent as they walked home. "What were you and Legolas arguing about?" Ori asked finally and Gimli huffed out a breath, remaining silent for another block.

"He's immortal," he said finally. "I'm not. I can't--I'm not ready to be a memory and nothing more in someone's mind."

Ori twisted his hands up in the scarf he wore, something Dori had knitted for him years past. "So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Gimli said. "See if I ever get ready, I guess. I mean, if the world ends, it would be shitty to waste that, but possibly worse to keep going only to survive and not have anything at the end of it."

Several steps later, Ori finally spoke again. "You know, I think the first crush I got on someone was twenty years older than me," and Gimli's head snapped over at the admission. "It's not the same as a hundred and fifty, but it's still--no matter how you cut age differences like that it's not easy."

"Was it anyone I know?" Gimli asked, teasing.

"Shut up, Gimli," Ori said without looking over at him and stopped to see Nori in the doorway, across the threshold but with the door open and clearly waiting.

"Uh," Gimli managed.

"Well, you made curfew," Nori said. "No more than three and a half hours. Funny you weren't at the theater though."

"You checked?" Ori asked, trying to muster up offense instead of growing fear.

Dori spoke from behind his youngest brother, frowning as he and Thorin entered from their patrol, "You're only now getting in?"

"And not from the theater either," Nori added and Ori looked betrayed as even Thorin arched a brow.

"Wait, what?"  Dori's attention honed in entirely on Ori, "Where were you then?"

For once Ori had no ready excuse and suddenly Nori darted forward. "Is that blood?" he demanded, running a finger through a sticky blob that Ori had not noticed, demon's blood from when he probably gave the knife to Elladan.

"Yes," Ori said. "No, it's not mine, and actually, come to remember it, I think I really need to be sick."

Dori stepped over, looking at the blood on Nori's finger, "That's not human.  Not by a long shot.  Ori, what happened?"

"Can I please be sick first?" Ori asked, remembering what he had walked in on earlier and the ruthless way he already knew Elladan and Elrohir fought.

Dori nodded very slightly, stepping back to give his brother a clear route to the nearest bathroom, his eyes already moving to Gimli.

"Oh fuck," Gimli managed as Ori darted away.

"So," Dori said, focused entirely on Gimli, “Where did you go tonight and what happened?"

Thorin retreated to the stairs where he could still listen but not be actively staring Gimli down. "We, well, we were honestly going to the movie," Gimli said, the lie surprisingly easy. "And... got waylaid."

"Waylaid?" Nori pressed, Thorin arching a brow and only hoping that he had been more subtle when he had lied as a teenager about sneaking out to drink and smoke and make an idiot of himself.

"For hours?" Dori asked, eyebrows inching upward.

"It was a very dramatic comedy of errors?" Gimli offered and that was at least true.

Dori looked at Nori and sighed, "And what happened?"

"Demons," Ori said, reappearing, rubbing a hand over his mouth, and Gimli let out a breath before tensing at the fact Ori was being honest. "There were two of them," and he had Thorin's total attention.

Dori's head snapped in that direction, "Where?"

"Down by the theater," Ori said. "They killed someone--I couldn't see very well but they were, uh, eating him." Gimli blanched, understanding the look Ori had when he came barreling around the corner now.

His eldest brother paled at that, drawing a deep breath, "Was anyone else hurt?"

"No," Ori said. "Uh, vamps showed up and took care of it." Thorin obviously tensed, drawing Gimli's eye.

Dori glanced toward Thorin before turning his attention back to Ori, "They just happened to be in the area?"

"I think they know a lot more about demons than we do," Ori drawled.

"Handy that," Dori murmured.  "You're both alright, though?"

Ori and Gimli nodded together. "Totally fine," Ori said. "Well, physically fine." Nori stared at him a second before he stripped the jacket off him and started patting him down. "Hey!"

"You are too good at lying, bro," Nori said. "I'm just checking."

Looking toward Thorin again, Dori shook his head, "I guess that begins to answer the question of where the demons are."

"Apparently," Thorin rumbled back as Gimli tried to sneak up the stairs as Nori found the knife Ori held and grinned at him.

"That's my baby brother."

"Oh shut up," Ori managed.

"If there’s nothing else you need us for tonight, Thorin, I think we'll head out to the other house," Dori said after a brief moment.

"Of course," Thorin said and Ori flashed him a terrified look, unsure if worry would stay his brother's tongues or if he was in for a huge yelling.

Dori nodded slightly, opening the front door and all but pulling Ori out with him.

Thorin watched them go, looking up the stairs one more time before retreating back to his office rather than his bedroom.

-0-

As the door to the vampires' mansion opened, Glorfindel looked up from his work. He had stationed himself in the entry hall, knives he had found laying next to his chair as he focused on honing the edge of the one in his hand.  His gaze focused on the door, hand tight around the hilt of the blade, though he relaxed when Legolas came through, followed closely by the twins.  Rising smoothly to his feet, he crossed the foyer, "Have a good n--" his eyes fell on the head Elladan carried, "I'll take that as a no then."

"Not so much," Elladan said, dropping the head. "I hate demons."

"How many were there?" Glorfindel asked, crouching down to examine the head more closely.

Elrohir shifted his shoulders, wanting nothing more than to clean the demon blood off of himself, "Two."

Glorfindel nodded and glanced up, "Good thinking bringing the head back."

"Well I sure know shit about it," Elladan said, backing away.

"This is one of the lower levels, they tend to congregate in packs," Glorfindel frowned, his eyes moving to the fangs.  "Their teeth and claws are designed for ripping flesh from the damned for eternity.  They're lackeys."  He rose, picking up the head with some distaste, "Where did you encounter them?"

"Near the theater," Elladan said as Erestor entered the room, curious for he had heard the door slam abruptly when they had entered. Coming up behind Glorfindel, he lifted the head up and turned it over, considering the features and ignoring the gore that was dripping from it.

Legolas shifted back, Glorfindel glancing in his direction, "Go fetch the Lady and Lord, lad."  The younger vampire nodded and scrambled up the stairs as Glorfindel turned back to the twins, "And these were the first ones anyone's seen.  These aren't the sort to lay low, which means a commander came out with them."

"A commander?" Elladan asked, feeling his stomach drop.

Erestor hummed. "That would be the only way to keep flesh-eaters like this under control. A stronger demon who is biding him time and apparently waiting for something, or someone, to act."

"Flesh eaters?" Elladan asked, voice pitched high.

Arching a brow, Erestor finally looked back up from the head. "Yes. Human flesh mostly. They eat them."

"Ew," Elladan managed.

Elrohir shuddered, leaning into his brother slightly, "What would they be waiting for?"

"It could be anything," Glorfindel responded.  "Could be a signal, could be a sign, could simply be waiting for something to anger him enough that he lets them loose."

"Should we hunt for them?" Galadriel asked, stepping down the stairs with her golden hair loose around her shoulders.

Glorfindel looked up at her, considering the question for a long moment and then shook his head, "If there's a commander involved, then hunting them will likely lead to a nest far too large for us."

Celeborn spoke from a pace behind his wife, "It might also enable us to take out a few at a time, if we know where they're coming from."

"Find the source and create a dam as they try to leave?" Erestor offered as Galadriel glided down the stairs.

Celeborn nodded.  Glorfindel paused at that, "We'll need weapons.  Knives, wire garrotes, things like that.  Anything that will decapitate or dismember."

"Swords," Elladan said. "I think I want a sword."

"There aren't very many in this house anymore," Glorfindel said, brushing past the fact that he knew that even considering how little time he'd been there.

Elrohir's eyebrows rose slightly, "We haven't had need of them in a long while."

"We still have them," Galadriel said. "They have been in my care, for the most part."

Even Erestor turned to look at her in surprise.

Celeborn's lips curled upward very slightly, "Well, that solves that bit of the problem.  We'll need to find them to track them back."  He looked toward Glorfindel, arching an eyebrow very slightly.

Glorfindel nodded, "Yes.  They'll gravitate toward places with people, but with a commander holding them in check it will be smaller places, places that wouldn't be a normal hunting location."

"First thing at nightfall we will all look," Galadriel said and her gaze lingered a moment too long on Legolas.

Legolas shifted back on his heels under that look, wanting nothing more than to retreat up the stairs and erase the entire evening.  Elrohir spoke, "First thing."  He glanced toward the knives that Glorfindel had been sharpening, "How many swords do we have?"

"Enough for all," she said. "A few are only ceremonial now but there are enough steel and mithril blades."

"Are the steel ones sharpened?" Glorfindel asked after a moment.

"They will probably need to be," Galadriel said, inclining her head.

"But," Elladan started. "Mithril has not been seen since... for ages! The last I remember hearing it wrought was when Durin was alive."

"That's correct," Celeborn agreed.  "It fortunately doesn't age like other metals, keeps its edge and rust never settled on it."

Elrohir looked uncertain at that, "So, we're looking at going after demons with swords that were forged eons ago?"

"It's the best thing to use in this situations, really," Glorfindel responded with a slight shrug.

"As Elladan said, they are not being forged anymore," Galadriel said with a faint smile.

Glorfindel looked around at the others, "We had probably better rest for the day if we are planning to go hunting for the nest at sundown."

Celeborn nodded his agreement, "We'll need people to assist with honing the steel blades again."

"I'm certain at least some remember how," Galadriel said with an arched brow.

"Uh," Elladan managed.

Glorfindel offered the twins long looks as Elrohir shifted in a way that echoed his brother's vocal response, "If they don't, I can see to the blades."

"In our defense, swords were mostly ceremonial," Elladan said. "We were froofy nobles, not knights in plate mail. Legolas is going to be even worse off than we are."

"I don't think I've ever used one," Legolas admitted.  "Lower class in the middle of the nineteenth century."

Glorfindel looked between the three of them, "Well, we'll be remedying that.  You two," his attention focused on Elladan and Elrohir, "are going to learn how to sharpen them, and you," he pointed at Legolas, "are going to learn at least the basics."

"I hated fencing," Elladan managed.

"It's not fencing," Glorfindel replied, almost sharply.  "It's war."

"Elladan's right, our swords were mostly ceremonial, and they weren't broadswords or anything of that sort," Elrohir supplied.

Glorfindel finally let an expression slip through the almost impassive look he'd been wearing as he frowned, "Looks like you two will be getting some training as well.  Anyone else?"

"I'll need some," Arwen's voice came from the top of the stairs where she'd been quietly listening.

Galadriel looked up. "Thranduil and Elrond should remember how to hold swords."

Celeborn nodded, "They certainly should.  Which means only the younger childes will need training, hopefully."

"Well, that's better than it could be," Glorfindel murmured.  "Anyone beyond these four you want taught?"

"Kili," Galadriel added. "Though with his family it's possible he knows some already."

Celeborn glanced at his wife from the corner of his eye, but nodded his agreement.  Glorfindel's brows rose, but he inclined his head to them, "Very well.  I've been meaning to meet him since I arrived, anyhow."

"You want to put a sword in the hand of a former hunter?" Erestor asked, just to make sure.

"Yes," Galadriel said. "He is after all, one of us now."

"This danger does not only affect us," Celeborn said.  "We may not trust him entirely yet, but we cannot do without him, and will not leave him defenseless in this."

Erestor watched him for a moment before nodding. "Of course."

Glorfindel looked at the demon's head again and turned his gaze back to the others, "I'll meet to start on training a few hours before sunset.  We'll make use of the large room at the back of the house."

Elladan looked over at Elrohir and nodded, dragging his twin off and past Galadriel and Celeborn, not even pausing to ask Arwen if Kili had gotten up to anything on his way toward the shower and bed where he intended to press Elrohir down and not think about demons or flesh being eaten.

Glorfindel watched them go before glancing at Arwen and Legolas, "I expect to see you there and rested.  If either of you sees Thranduil's newest childe, alert him of the same."  He offered Celeborn and Galadriel a slight bow, "If you'll pardon me, I think I'm going to see about some rest for myself."

"Of course," Galadriel said as Erestor watched him.

Glorfindel nodded once and gathered up the knives.  He slipped up the stairs to the room he had taken, closing the door firmly and setting the knives down by one of the candelabras he used.  He didn't mind the electric lights, but he still preferred the candles. He offered a silent snarl to the curtained window.  Stalking around the room, he tapped a staccato beat against his leg.  He paused long enough to light three candles around the room, letting the shadows remain in the corners.

Pulling his shirt off he looked over the long, paler marks that marred his arms and torso.  Curse the sun--he was ready to cleave a few demons to pieces.  Let them see if they could scar him then.  Snarling again, he picked up one o the knives and hurled it across the room, embedding it in the wall.  Drawing unnecessary breaths in an attempt to calm down, he finally slid down to sit with his back to the bed, his gaze fixed on the door.

They were too far outnumbered, but he would return to the pit himself before he saw this line break.  Reaching under the bed, he withdrew the one sword he had found soon after his return.  Setting it to his whetstone, he let the sharp rasp of the metal on stone focus his mind and calm his nerves.

Erestor stood in the doorway, having been surprised to find the door unlocked. He looked first to the knife in the wall and back to where Glorfindel's scars were on display. "So I don't need to ask how you are."

"I'm fine," Glorfindel said, barely glancing up, his blond hair having slipped loose from the tie he held it back with.  "If you're coming in, come in.  If you're not, don't.  But stop standing in the doorway, the door was closed for a reason."

Erestor closed the door behind him and moved over to sit on the bed, knee pressed to the side of Glorfindel's head. "Mhm," he said, curling a finger in the hair that had escaped.

Glorfindel tipped his head slightly to lean it more firmly against Erestor's knee as he focused on the edge of the blade, "I'm surprised it's taken this long."

"That just makes it more frightening, doesn't it?"

"It makes me wonder what's going to be the tipping point."

Erestor hummed again, fingers still moving in the blond hair before he pulled the tie off and started combing through all of it. "Something violent," he said, not reassuring.

Glorfindel's smile was sharp and not at all pleasant at that, his eyes hard, "That I'm looking forward to.  The number of them?  Less so."

"Well perhaps you shall have time to work through your issues," Erestor said. "It may be a small band yet."

"I haven't got issues to work through, Erestor," Glorfindel said, ignoring the whisper in his mind that told him what a lie that was considering how much he wanted to see walls painted black with the blood of the demons.

Fingers sliding under his chin, Erestor gripped it and forced his head back. "Don't lie to me."

Glorfindel stiffened at the touch and the angle, instinctively trying to twist his head away, "I look forward to seeing the nest rent by my blades.  It's been too long since I could adequately fight the bastards."

Bending in half, Erestor pressed their mouths together, biting Glorfindel's top lip before drawing back. "You're not alone in this fight anymore."

The faint smile on Glorfindel's lips was almost genuine, "That's good.  I'm not sure I could take a pack of them alone.  What do you say, interested in severing a few necks with me?"

"I suppose I could be pressed to do so," Erestor said but his grin was sharp.

Glorfindel's expression matched Eresotr's as he finally set the sword aside and turned around, kneeling beside the bed and levering up to slam their mouths together, "Good."

Spreading his hips out around Glorfindel's side, Erestor cupped his hands around the blond head and licked at his fangs. "Would it be what you desire? To kill them and dance in their blood?"

"I don't dance very well.  Bathe in it perhaps," He replied, fingers curling tightly against Erestor's thigh.

"You might like some of the newer dances," Erestor said. "I could teach you."

"Later," the other murmured, leaning up for another harsh, desperate kiss.

Bringing his knees up to press into Glorfindel's sides, Erestor tilted his head down to better kiss him, heat curling between them as one of his hands dropped down to trace along the lines of Glorfindel's scars.

Glorfindel stilled at that for the briefest of moments, but caught himself and parted his lips, his hands running up and down Erestor's thighs.

"I hate and appreciate these," Erestor said, finger tips moving to another white line.

"That's rather a lot of complication to feel about them," Glorfindel responded, shifting at the touch.

"I hate them," Erestor said. "For there were a defilement of your body, they are marks you will never be able to leave behind and they mean you were harmed where I could not rip their hearts out of their chests." He paused, pressing a kiss to Glorfindel's temple. "But they mean no matter what stands in your way, you will fight your way--back," he said at the last moment, _home_ having come dangerously close to passing through his lips.

"I'd rather never have received them and to have never left," Glorfindel responded.  "I hate them, they're reminders and," he grimaced and shook his head before diving into another kiss.

"They still mean you're strong," Erestor said, pulling back slightly.

Glorfindel met his eyes for a long moment, "Do you know how long it takes to scar a vampire, even in hell?  Especially in hell, it's not as though they have holy relics there."

"Yes," Erestor said. "I do."

Levering himself up, Glorfindel pushed Erestor back onto the bed, settling on top of him, " _Eons_ , Erestor.  That's how long I was in that pit.  For all I knew I was emerging to a wasteland with no life on it."

"But you didn't," Erestor said, pressing his knees against his sides and twining his hair through Erestor's fingers. "You came out and we were still here."

Glorfindel's jaw tensed at that, and he nodded once, "Yes, and I'll be damned again before I see that stop."

Erestor yanked him down into another kiss rather than say anything on his mind. Glorfindel pressed him down into the mattress, more than willing to let himself be distracted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to be clear this takes place entirely on the same night that Fili and Bofur go to bed at the end of the last chapter. It's a long night. 
> 
> (Also, Dori is like the first person to be amused by Thorin since this fic started the poor man--he's been So Very Serious the whole time and really he needs someone to just find him sorta oddly adorable and petulant instead of taking him So Very Seriously)
> 
> Happy New Year to all!


	12. If it is so Bad as We are Told

Bofur woke slowly, his head feeling fuzzy with a hangover and he started to roll over before he processed that he was in his bed not on the couch, and he was sleeping next to a very handsome blond.  Falling still, he watched Fili for a moment before trying to slide out of bed without disturbing the other any more than he expected he already had.

Making a faint huffing sound in his sleep, blond hair strewn around the pillow, Fili shifted, closer to Bofur's heat and well on the other side of the bed by now.

Bofur stilled again at that, moving a hand to brush over Fili's hair.  He weighed the pros and cons of moving and his chances of doing it while letting Fili sleep.  Determining that was a lost cause he lay back and stared at the ceiling, trying to remember exactly how he'd ended up in bed with the golden man.  He remembered going out with Nori, coming home and coming upstairs.  There was some sort of break between sitting down to take his shoes off and--he blinked in Fili's direction at the image he had of the other kneeling in front of him while he sat on the couch.

Fili seemed to wake up enough to yawn and shuffle closer to the heat, resting his head on Bofur's chest and an arm around his waist. One a few breaths later his eyes snapped open as what he was doing penetrated the sleepy fog of his mind. Bofur drew his hand back from Fili's hair, though he offered the other a smile, "Mornin'."

"Good morning," Fili said, wooden and automatic and he still hadn't moved though he had tensed.

Shifting slightly at that, Bofur drew a deep breath and feeling himself slip into surface level conversation--speaking without talking, "You sleep well?"

"Yes," Fili said. "Very well." Better even than the other nights he had stayed there. "You?"

Bofur nodded, "Yeah."  He was more than sober enough to catch himself before he said he had slept better than he had in months.

Fili took a deep breath and let it out. "Good. Hungover?"

"A bit, yeah," Bofur replied.  "Been a while since I had that much to drink."

Fili's hand was still on Bofur's bare chest and his fingers twitched. "You seemed to sleep in a bed pretty well."

Bofur paused at that for a moment, "Not sure how much of that was the bed."

Fili's breath did something funny in his lungs while he tried to keep it even and failed. "You sure you want to give me credit for anything?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Bofur said, looking confused.

FIli let out another breath, head still on Bofur's chest. "Do you remember last night well?"

"Not really.  Bits and pieces, but most of its kind of foggy."

"Oh," Fili said, unsure if he was relieved or not.

"I do remember telling you that you needed to get out of this house. And I stand by that."

Fili smiled, turning his face slightly before he thought about it to hide. "You were emphatic on that point, yes."

Bofur grinned, "Well, I think it'll do you good to get out for a while. I also remember being told not to call you something, but I don't know what."

"Incredible," Fili muttered, face pressed to Bofur's chest now to hide. It was warm, underneath the sheets and with Bofur beneath him and he wanted to run until he couldn’t breathe and eat ice until he was not so warm anymore.

That garnered a single blink, "And the confusion I've got over that may be part of the reason I couldn't remember it, along with being drunk."

"I don't like compliments," Fili managed. "They--I don't know how they make me feel. Anything but what the person's calling me." He paused. "I also said that I'm chronically incapable of expressing them in return and that we weren't having sex when you were drunk.”

"Considering how much I remember about last night?  I'm glad you said the second.  And, I've pretty well figured out the first one already,” Bofur managed.

"Still," Fili murmured. "I wanted you--I want you to know--that even though I can't ... talk about things doesn't mean I'm not thinking or feeling them."

Bofur paused for a moment before tipping Fili's chin up to kiss him, soft and without pressing.  "You don't need to say it.  Alright?"

About to insist that he wanted and needed to say it, Fili gave the thought up to press into the kiss, still half laying over Bofur. Bofur's fingers tangled into Fili's hair, the other one slipping around Fili's waist.

"I do like you," Fili managed in between kisses.

"I'm glad," Bofur replied, leaning up to press the kiss deeper as his hand slid under the hem of Fili's tee shirt.

Fili shifted, increasingly aware of the fact he was on top of a nearly unclothed Bofur and there wasn't much fabric in between them as it was.

Running his thumb over Fili's side, Bofur drew back for a breath, "God... Alright so you don't like them. What if I were to show you rather than tell?"

Fili stared down at him, obviously wavering. "Yeah, okay."

"No further, no faster than we're _both_ ready for," Bofur promised, leaning up for another kiss, his hand sliding up Fili's back.

"We're mostly undressed in your bed," Fili said, a shade dryly.

"I'm not drunk anymore," Bofur replied.

"Yeah?" Fili offered and twisted around until he covered Bofur, elbows braced on either side of his head.

Bofur grinned up at him, "Yeah."  His hands moved to rest against Fili's hips.

"I suppose that was my condition, wasn't it?" Fili asked, wondering how he sounded so calm, barely hovering over Bofur.

"The only one you said at least."

"And if we need to stop?" Fili asked, head tilted to one side.

Bofur hesitated, before speaking firmly, "Then we'll stop."

"How exactly do you intend for that?" Fili asked. "Like should I knee you in the balls?"

Bofur flinched at that thought, "No, no that doesn't sound like a good idea, to me."

Burying his face in Bofur's shoulder, Fili tried not to giggle. "I think I have other ideas for them."

Bofur felt his face heat that, "I hope so.  Cause if that's the only idea you have for them, we may need to talk."

Fili laughed again, sun coming through the window instead of night. "I've been told I have an overactive imagination," he said. "I'm sure I'll think of something else." Bofur laughed with him before leaning up into another kiss again.

Tilting his head down, Fili pressed down before he propped himself up with only one elbow, the other inching down to touch Bofur's chest. Bofur's breath caught slightly, his fingers tightening on Fili's hips before he raised one of his hands to comb Fili's hair back.

Before Fili could let his hand wander any further down a knock came and his head whipped around, though he could not see the door from the bed as it was shoved back in an alcove. Bofur startled at that, swearing under his breath, "I'd better get that."

Fili nodded, tumbling off the bed and quickly pulling his pants back on and hiding behind the wall as Bofur went to answer the door.

Bofur combed a hand through his hair as he reached the door, finally pulling it open, "Yes?"  His eyes widened slightly, "Thorin."

"Good morning," Thorin greeted, a cup of coffee already in hand.

"Is there, that is," he rubbed his eyes and gathered his words together again.  "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you have seen Fili at all, recently," Thorin admitted. "I do believe he's been avoiding me."

"I," Bofur blinked twice at that and then nodded.  "Yes, I mean, yes I've seen him.  I don't know if he's been avoiding you though, can't say one way or the other about that."

"And our agreement?" Thorin asked, Fili tense from where he was still hiding. "About watching out for him?"

Bofur's face became unreadable at that for the briefest of moments, "I've been watching out for him, Thorin.  Now, may I finish getting dressed?"

Thorin frowned. "Is something the matter? I had news as well," he started and stopped as Fili stormed past him, shirt over one arm and hair a mess.

Bofur watched Fili go, sighing softly, "I was going to try to explain to your nephew that I had already been watching his back by the time you asked me to promise that, but now?  No, nothing's the matter."

Brows going up, Thorin only watched him. "I was going to say that there were demons last night, Ori and Gimli ran into them, claim that vampires took care of them and left them be afterwards. As you were supposed to go out with Gloin tonight, I thought it best you were aware."

Bofur ran a hand over his face, nodding slightly, "Right, yes.  Wait, the vampires dealt with the demons and then left?  They weren't hunting or anythin'?"

"Apparently not," Thorin shrugged.

"Well, I'll make sure we've got heavier weapons than normal stakes along then," Bofur said, "in case we encounter any of those demons unexpectedly."

"Neither Dori nor Ori could figure out what it was from his books," Thorin warned. "We don't know how powerful they were in contrast to us, but Ori said they were eating someone."

"Ideally we won't run into any more of them.  At least until we know more, but I'll see what we've got just in case."

Thorin hummed his agreement and then his brow went up again. "So. Fili."

"He hasn't been able to sleep in his own room," Bofur answered.  "I sleep on the couch and he takes the bed.  I never use the bed myself anyhow."

"He hasn't been sleeping?" Thorin asked and wished that he had forced Fili and Kili apart when they had been younger, at least insisted on separate rooms, anything to make this easier now.

Bofur nodded slightly, "Not well enough to really count at least."

Thorin's fingers twitched. "Thank you for looking out for him."

"Of course.  It's no trouble, or it wasn't."

Thorin's brow twitched. "He's grown quite fond of you lately."

Bofur looked pointedly down the hall where Fili had disappeared, "He's also probably thinking that the only reason I've been around is because I promised you that I'd watch his back."

"Yes," Thorin agreed with a heavy sigh. "That's likely."

"I should get dressed, see if I can explain to him.  If you don't mind?" Bofur said, starting to step back into his room.

Thorin watched him. "If you hurt him," he said. "I don't care what good you have done me or my family I will dangle you off a dock and cut your lungs out."

Bofur paled very slightly, but nodded, "I understand."

"Good," Thorin said and turned to leave.

Bofur watched him go before closing the door and getting dressed quickly.  He was still trying to get his hair to settle down as he went to find Fili.

Thorin found Fili before Bofur did, knowing where his nephew was likely to hide up in the attic of the old house, sitting in an old chair by the window. Plucking the cigarette from him, Thorin took a long drag and let it out.

"I feel like I should remember you smoking," Fili remarked with a frown.

"I quit when you were in diapers," Thorin said, sitting down across from him, still with his cigarette.

"That bad of a day?" Fili asked and his eyes were guarded so Thorin took another lung full of smoke.

"You're mother wouldn't be happy to catch you with these," he said instead and Fili huffed.

"Yeah, well, Kili never was either." For another long moment they sat in silence, staring at each other. "I never struck you for the rebellious type as a child."

Thorin huffed, finally handing the cigarette back. "Smoking isn't always a rebellion," he said and ignored the way Fili's brows went up. "So. Bofur."

"What about him?" Fili asked, eyes sharp as he watched his uncle.

Tapping his fingers on the chair arm, Thorin shrugged. "Was I ever going to hear about the fact you were together?" he asked, already fairly certain the answer was no, and Fili's stony stare only proved it. "You think that little of me?"

"I'm never sure what to think of you," Fili said and Thorin bowed his head, bracing his elbows on his knees and interlocking his fingers. "Or what you'll think of me."

Thorin let out a long breath. "Does he make you happy?" he asked and Fili blinked.

"I think so," he said finally. "He cares. It's nice."

"Relationships are build out of more than just being nice," Thorin said, a hint of warning in his voice and Fili looked up in surprise again, smoke trailing out the open attic window. "You have to mean it."

"I'm trying," Fili said. "I am trying."

For another moment Thorin watched him before snagging the cigarette back and taking another deep breath before handing it to Fili. "I gave him the shovel speech, a brief one," he added when Fili's eyes widened. "Be careful, of him and you."

"I will," Fili said, eyes still wide as Thorin nodded and pushed himself back to his feet, heading down the stairs. "Thanks," Fili called after him and Thorin looked over his shoulder. "I think, anyway."

It was nearly another hour before Bofur finally located the Fili.  He approached quietly, not concealing his presence but nor was he obvious about it, sitting down near the other, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you your uncle had asked that of me.  I was already doing my best to watch your back by the time he did."

"It--" Fili paused. "It's not fine. But I get it."

"You know it's not why I do any of this, don't you?" Bofur asked, uncertainly.

"Because my uncle asked you to?" Fili asked, looking over from where he had gone through half a pack of cigarettes.

Bofur caught his upper lip between his teeth as he nodded, "Yeah, that."

"I think I know that," he admitted after a beat. "Sometimes I'm not sure."

"I care about you, Fili.  That, that's why I'm here.  It's why I offered you the bed.  I," he broke off and shook his head.

"Yeah?" Fili pressed when he stopped. "I mean, if you want to continue, I guess."

"I don't really have much to continue with.  I did it because of you, not because of some promise made to your uncle."

Fili watched him for another moment before nodding. "Alright."

Bofur blinked twice at that, "Alright?"

"Yeah," Fili said, snubbing the cigarette out finally and looking at Bofur. "I believe you. And apparently my uncle approves so much as he approves of anything."

Bofur huffed what might have been a nervous laugh, "As much as he approves of anything.  He threatened to cut my lungs out.  Which, I might add, is a very effective threat."

"It must mean he likes you, at least a little," Fili said.

"I'm going to hope that's what it meant, since the threat was if I ever hurt you rather than for what's going on," Bofur replied.

"Then he certainly likes you as much as he ever does," Fili said. "Or he would have been a lot more graphic about it. Or not given you any warning at all."

"I'm going to find that reassuring, then." He paused, "Should I find that reassuring?"

"You might as well," Fili agreed, looking over at him and swallowing hard. "Took you a while to get up here."

"Was still searching downstairs," Bofur admitted.  "I didn't know this was a very likely spot."

"It's the only spot where you can smoke in the house," Fili said. "And it's quiet."

"I'll have to remember that for the future," Bofur murmured, drawing a knee up to rest his arm on it.

"I wish I could say it would be unlikely to happen again," Fili said and paused before tapping out another cigarette.

"Sometimes you need to get away," Bofur said, shrugging slightly even as he considered the mostly empty pack of cigarettes.

"You're not going to lecture me about this too, are you?" Fili asked, still watching him.

"No.  Don't see any point to that, really.  We all have our thing," Bofur murmured.

"Our thing," Fili said with a faint smile. "I suppose we all have our own things. Like your carvings."

Bofur's expression echoed Fili's, "Like that, yeah."

Carefully not blushing, Fili pushed himself up to his feet. "Come on," he said. I think I've at least been hiding up here enough."

Scrambling to his feet, Bofur nodded slightly, "Alright.  Breakfast?"

"Breakfast, right," Fili said, having forgotten to really eat.

"Should be something in the kitchen," the brunet said, starting for the stairs. Hesitating a moment, Fili followed him, hiding the cigarettes back in the light jacket he wore. When they reached the kitchen, Bofur hesitated for the briefest of moments when he spotted Ori.

"So you found him finally?" Ori asked, having watched Bofur move back and forth through the house for a while.

Bofur nodded slightly, "Yeah.  Anything to be found for breakfast?"

"There were pancakes," Ori said. "Nori cooked them to keep Dori from trying, a few are still left you could warm them up in the pan.

"Great, thank you." Bofur nodded, moving over to heat up the pancakes.

Ori watched him for a moment and looked back over at Fili. "So, did you manage to actually talk out any problems or is this just going to be a moment of manly stoicism?"

Bofur shrugged slightly, glancing toward Fili, "Both, neither, I don't really know."

"God," Ori managed. "Fili physically is incapable of talking about his emotions," he drawled and Fili choked. "And you don't believe in straight answers. The pair of you, I swear."

"Well, I, we," Bofur paused and turned to look at Fili.  "If your uncle knows do we still have to keep this quiet?"

"What? No," Fili said in shock before he stopped it.

That garnered a smile from Bofur, "Really?"

"Well, yeah," Fili said, hands tightening on the edge of the table. "I mean, there--I was sorta being a jerk about it, wasn't I? I wanted something I didn't have to share, something I didn't have to worry about everyone butting their noses into, but that wasn't fair and well--" he glared at Ori. "Apparently some people already knew anyway."

Bofur ran a hand over the back of his neck, trying to curb his grin, "I could understand that, but I'm glad we don't got to hide it."  His eyes glanced at Ori, "And Ori knew before we did, I think."

"We never," Fili started. "Had to hide anything, but thank you, I guess, for being willing to put up with me."

He shrugged at that, "It was something you felt you needed."

Fili could only stare at him for a moment. "How did I even deserve this?" he said and Ori ducked his head down instead of laughing.

Bofur took the two steps to stand in front of Fili, "It's not really about deservin'."

Fili leaned forward, quickly kissing Bofur before pulling back. "If you insist."

"I do," Bofur replied, grinning slightly.

Blushing, Fili glanced away as Ori shook his head, a knock coming at the back kitchen door. Both Fili and Ori tensed, looking toward it for a moment. "It couldn't be a vampire," Fili said and Ori picked up a knife.

"Could be a demon," he said, inching forward.

"Something tells me they wouldn't be nice enough to knock," Bofur supplied even as he reached for a carving knife from the block.

There was another pause before the doorknob started moving and the door pushed open, a bag being kicked through before Dwalin entered. "Dwalin!" Ori yelped, dropping the knife and then throwing himself at the taller hunter, Dwalin catching him automatically.

"Jesus Christ," Dwalin said, holding Ori up though he took a step back.

Bofur set the knife down, relaxing at the sight of Dwalin, "Thank god."

"I'm happy to see you too," Dwalin said, trying to put Ori back down but Ori kept clinging to his waist. "It's only been three months I've been gone."

"You have no idea how long those months have been," Ori said and Fili watched Dwalin from the table, hand un-bandaged but scared still.

"Well here is Fili," Dwalin said, looking at him. "But where is--" he cut off at the tight line of Fili's mouth. "It has been a long several months, then," he agreed and looked at Ori for explanation of what might have happened.

Bofur set the knife he held back down, "Hell opened while you were gone."

"We have a lot to talk about," Ori said, face still smashed against Dwalin's side as he startled and looked at Bofur. "How was the Amazon?"

"Fine," Dwalin said, frowning at Bofur. "There was a surprisingly large nest of vampires."

"And Dain?" Ori continued.

"Doing well," Dwalin said and his eyes dropped to consider the younger man. "Europe is rather quiet this time of year. Apparently more so than here."

"At least somewhere is," Bofur said, dishing up the pancakes now that they were warmed up and setting a plate down for Fili, still watching Dwalin and Ori. Fili offered him a smile and poked at the pancake for a while before resigning himself to actually eating anything.

"I'll make tea," Ori said and stayed where he was for a long moment more before finally pulling himself away and fussing with the kettle.

"What has been happening?" Dwalin asked, moving his bag out of the kitchen and near the stairs before returning.

Bofur sat down across from Fili, "The answer to that'll take most of the day.  The short version is that everything's gone to pieces and Oin's portents are indicating that hell's going to open again."

"Kili's dead," Fili said, emotionless and Dwalin froze from where he was moving to sit down. The false calmness in Fili's voice told him too clearly how long it had been since it happened, and just how long he had been gone. "More or less," Fili added and Dwalin sat down hard.

Bofur's gaze moved to Fili and he mentally cursed the fact that he'd taken the chair opposite rather than the one next to the blond.  He glanced up at motion in the door, startling slightly to see Dis there.  Dis paused at seeing Dwalin, her eyes flickering around the room and what she saw choked off her greeting as she moved to stand just behind her son, hesitating for the briefest of moments before she rested her hand on his shoulder.

"Dis," Dwalin greeted, his voice lower than it had been last time he had spoken. "I--" he broke off because he had grown up with Dis hitting him with wooden swords and held her and Thorin when their grandfather had died and knew no words would ever be enough. "What can I do?"

She met his gaze for a long moment before sighing and looking away, "Support Thorin's decisions as you always do.  There isn't anything to be done, but having you home is certainly a comfort."

He nodded, noticing the way Fili's hand tightened around the fork he held so that Dwalin was vaguely surprised it did not snap. "Of course," he said. "I have been gone too long and it is good to be home."

"I wish you were returning to a better circumstance," Dis murmured.  "We've lost too dearly, and there are demons in the streets now."

"Bofur mentioned that hell had opened," Dwalin said. "Demons have come out then?"

Dis nodded, "And there are predictions that it's due to become worse."

"Do we have information?" Dwalin asked. "On why they're coming and how, and how to stop them?"

"Not enough," Ori said, not looking away from the cupboard he was rifling through.

"What Ori said," Dis agreed.  "Though we've been told enough to have indications that whatever came out this time is mild in comparison to what we can expect in the future."

"What came through this time?" Dwalin asked as Fili finished the pancakes, having shoved the food in mechanically.

"Demons," Ori said. "Flesh eating ones, for instance. The portal was only open for a handful of minutes. A vampire."

"A vampire?" Dwalin asked in surprise. "Came out of a hell portal."

"That's what Ori and his brothers say they saw," Dis said, nodding. "The vampires closed this portal, as well."

"Demons do not like vampires," Dwalin said.

"He didn't much look like he liked them either," Ori said, setting the tea in front of Dwalin and he stared at it for a moment, the familiarity of the gesture finally convincing him he was home.

"Coming out of a place filled with creatures that don't like him?" Bofur shook his head, "Can't say I blame him for not liking them back."

"Regardless, we've suddenly got hell-spawn to deal with in addition to the normal night-creatures," Dis said.

Dwalin nodded, glad he had something in his hands to grip while he processed. "Hell portals," he said, watching Fili. "Any other major news?"

"Fili and Bofur are dating," Ori said and Fili choked on air, glaring at him.

"That, it, shut up, Ori."

Dis blinked rapidly at that, her gaze moving to Bofur and sharpening, "Really now?" The brunet paused for a moment and then nodded, looking nervous before Dis tilted her head to one side, "Good."

"You're doing kisses in public now," Ori added. "It's not supposed to be all secretive anymore."

"We're not--" Fili said, flustered, and especially surprised at his mother's calm reaction. "You are _not_ the public, Ori! You're the one who knows too much anyway so secrets are meaningless where you're concerned."

Ori arched a brow at him. "So... I really missed my life's calling to be a spymaster?"

Bofur's laugh at that was nervous, "Oh god, that's a frightening thought."

Dis' lips curved upward slightly, "You would be excellent at that, actually."

"I think he has enough power to terrify and shock, as it is," Fili said and Dwalin laughed, even though it felt like there was a hole in his chest that everyone else had adjusted to living around while he still only ached at the freshness of the wound.

"Dis?" Thorin's voice called from outside the door. "Do you have--" he continued, and Dwalin moved faster than most people gave him credit for, appearing at the bottom of the stairs before Thorin had come all the way down. For a moment, Thorin stopped, processing Dwalin's appearance before they both moved, Dwalin only making it up a few more steps before Thorin barreled into him and Dwalin caught him in a hard embrace. "I've missed you," Thorin said, returning the embrace just as tightly.

"I'm sorry it took so long," Dwalin said, one hand resting on Thorin's shoulder. "You're too tense, aren't you?" Thorin let out an almost laughing breath.

Dis moved away from her son to stand in the kitchen doorway, watching her brother and their long-time friend quietly.

Finally Thorin drew back and Dwalin let him. "Thorin, I'm sorry, I didn't--"

"Don't," Thorin said, adjusting his shirt before leveling Dwalin with a look. "You went where you were needed. We are already insular enough without rejecting the rest of our family, like Dain and our other cousins."

"I was apparently needed here," Dwalin said and Thorin just shook his head.

"You're here now, Dwalin.  And now is when we need you here," Dis said, her voice quiet but carrying.

Thorin nodded. "We should talk."

"Yes," Dwalin agreed. "I have heard some of the news, but only very briefly."

Dis looked to her brother, "Did you need me for something, Thorin?"

"I wished to speak to you about Fili," he said, hands hiding in the pockets of his pants.

She glanced at the kitchen as she stepped away from the doorway, "He's in the kitchen right now."  The words were a caution that if they spoke where they were it was highly likely that her son would hear them. Thorin nodded, inclining his head toward his office and clapping Dwalin on the shoulder before moving that direction.

Dis followed, stepping in a pace behind her brother, letting the door swing closed, "What about Fili?"

"He is with Bofur," Thorin said, moving several old books and notebooks off one of the chairs as Dwalin leaned against the wall.

Lips twitching slightly at that, Dis nodded, "Ori just mentioned that."

"Ori?" Thorin asked, brows going up as he chuckled. "Of course it would be Ori. He managed to tell me himself this morning, though I admit to walking myself in on them as well."

"I had vague suspicions, but Ori confirmed them," she looked toward the door, pausing for a moment.  "What do you think of it?"

"I am worried that it's guilt on Bofur's part," Thorin said. "And that Fili is young and hurting and taking what he can, or that he does not realize exactly what it means to be in a relationship with someone." He let out a heavy breath. "I think, if it is not that, they could be good for each other. Bofur has been having Fili sleep in his room for he has not been."

Dis considered that, running her hand over her mouth as she thought of things Ori had said before, "I think we cannot judge motives on either side, we do not know how long this has been going on. I think, I think we have to hope for better motives in this case.  Because Fili needs more than duty, and he needs something he considers worth fighting for."

"Guilt, though?" Dwalin asked and Thorin let out a long breath.

"Bofur was the one with Kili when..."

Dwalin nodded, not needing Thorin to finish. "Fili said he was dead, more or less. So he is a vampire then?"

"Yes," Thorin said.

Dis sighed, leaning against the desk, "Fili was the one to see him and confirm it."

"And he could not kill him," Thorin added. "So Kili broke most of the bones in one of his hands. I have not seen nor heard of him since."

Dwalin stared at him, horrified before nodding. "But you presume the vampire is still alive?"

"At this point, it is better to presume the vampire is still around than to be caught off-guard when we discover it isn't," Dis replied, the fingers of her left hand tapping against her right arm.

Dwalin considered her and nodded. "That would be wisest," he agreed. "Portals and hell was also mentioned, I believe."

Thorin looked at the wall, mouth a thin line. "I've sent Dori to do more research and I have been trying to figure out what it means. Oin is convinced more is coming and it is going to be worse. So is Mr. Baggins."

Dis' mouth twisted, "He's so convinced, he spoke to me on the street recently."

Thorin arched a brow and Dwalin looked between them. "And who is Mr. Baggins?"

"A librarian," Thorin said and Dwalin looked amused. "I knew him before when I would occasionally go for research, and since these portents have began, he has been hanging around. He says there is another man who he gets information from, but whom he could not arrange for us to meet."

"He also thinks we should work with the vampires," Dis said with a frown, crossing her arms over her chest.

Dwalin hesitated. "I was told they closed the portal."

Dis' eyes darted to him, "They did, to the best of our knowledge."

"They do not want the demons either," Dwalin said. "It's not an alliance then, but a truce to defeat a larger foe."

"Are you in favor of it?" Thorin asked.

"I didn't say that," Dwalin said. "Only that the possibility is there."

"They'll want promises," Dis said.  "And to have a negotiator, or communication, only through someone no one here has met?  It does not lend itself to even a truce."

"So we do it ourselves," Dwalin said and Thorin sat behind his desk, leaning back.

Dis gaped at him, "What?"

"You said there is every sign that something may be coming neither of us want," Dwalin said. "And that a middleman is preposterous. So we do it ourselves."

"If it is so bad as we have been told," Thorin rumbled and Dwalin inclined his head.

"That is perhaps the largest question of the conversation."

"But how do we find that out?" Dis asked, looking between them.  "Oin says the portents bode ill, but he can't say that they're any worse than they were for this portal and we've seen little enough as a result of it."

"If we wait, it may be too late," Dwalin said.

"If we act now, we may walk into a trap set by the vampires to destroy us," Thorin returned and they stared at each other, both playing devil's advocate and neither really wishing to be correct.

Dis considered before looking to Thorin, "Do you think the librarian might have a way to contact them?  We find a neutral setting of some sort and meet there."

"I can ask him," Thorin agreed.

"Then we'll go from there," Dis said, still looking anything but certain about that idea.

"There may be time yet," Thorin said but did not sound convinced.

-0-

Glorfindel laid out the knives and swords on a long table in the large room he had set up for training.  He turned at the sound of footsteps, reaching up to tie his blond hair back as he looked the younger vampire over, "So they found you, then, did they?"

"I know how to use a sword," Kili said, on the edge of sulking. "I don't need to be here."

"Choose your sword then," Glorfindel said, gesturing to the blades.  "I'd wager you know how to use them to behead and dismember, yes?"

“Yes," Kili said, looking at what Glorfindel had laid out before picking up a sword, not quite a broadsword but thicker still than some of the others.

"Good.  Then I need your help," Glorfindel said, picking up his own sword.

"Not going to test me before making that request?" Kili asked, swinging the sword a couple times, testing the weight of it.

"Oh, don't doubt that I'll be testing you.  But Arwen and Legolas both need teaching, and Elladan and Elrohir need some reminders.  And I'm only a single teacher," Glorfindel responded, swinging the blade in a lazy arc.  "Now, let's see what you can do."

Kili nodded, though his muscles felt different now, stronger and faster and it made him feel off balanced as he had not picked up any real weapons since he had been turned. "Shit," he muttered when he dropped the sword too low during one of the routines.

Glorfindel stepped back, "Try again.  You're doing well adjusting to the feel."

Kili looked at him, expression still suspicious before he stepped back and tried the routine again.

The blond vampire swept his sword up to connect, to interrupt the routine and see how the other would respond, "Took me months to adjust after the change.  Still re-adjusting again, honestly."

At first, Kili scowled before he rocked back on one foot and surged forward again, swinging the sword up. "Because you were in hell?"

Glorfindel ducked away, blocking the swing, "Yes.  No weapons but my hands and teeth for eons.  It feels good to have a blade again."

"But aren't you stronger now?" Kili asked.

"After eons in hell?"  Glorfindel considered that, "In some ways. In others?  I've never been this weak."

"But you survived," Kili said, eyes flashing.

"I had reasons to," he answered.  "Most who go in don't and won't.  Demons don't like us anymore than they like humans."

"And what were your reasons?" Kili asked, swirling the blade around to clang against Glorfindel's.

"A line I left behind, and a scholar who wishes he was more of a traditional vampire than he ever has been," Glorfindel answered before grinning, his eyes alight with something that walked the edge of madness.  "And the hope of getting my hands on a blade to kill a few of them."

"Revenge isn't a very good motivation," Kili said, the line having been drilled into him in a past life and he blinked at the automatic way he said it. "Which scholar?"

Glorfindel laughed, the sound harsh, "Sometimes it's the only thing remaining.  But you're right it's not a good one."  He considered whether to answer the question or not, and decided that the other seemed to hear answers so rarely that he might as well, "Erestor of course."

"Erestor?" Kili said, totally missing the next blow and jumping back so Glorfindel wouldn't land a blow on his skin. "That--he's so serious all the time. So angry."

"He's rarely angry," Glorfindel responded, stepping back to let Kili get his footing back.  "Serious, though, that's true. Always has been."

"He is angry," Kili said. "But it's like, a rage that never goes away, like he's angry at the world for existing and mussing with his hair or something."

That earned a more genuine laugh, "Alright, that is true. Don't let him hear you define it that way, but it is true."  He looked over the younger vampire as he continued to move through the steps of the fight, "You've got enough anger yourself to recognize it."

Kili's next strike was harsher. "Maybe because the world has never done me any favors, either."

"The world does no one any favors, lad," Glorfindel responded, countering the blow easily. "Sometimes the only response we have to it is chopping up a few wayward demons.  What favor has it denied you recently?  And I mean beyond your transformation."

Kili snarled, moving through a flurry of blows, putting his full new strength behind it instead of grace or skill. "It wasn't just this--but being removed from my home, my family, and everything I'd ever cared about. My brother was supposed to kill me and I hurt him instead. What favor has it _ever_ given me?"

Glorfindel actually stumbled back a couple of paces under the onslaught before he recovered, "None.  You're right. You should have been given a choice, and you weren't. And that is unfair.  It's cruel.  But you have a choice now.  You can learn to live with it, you can fight against something and make it matter, or you can lash out at everything around you and make this part of your life miserable."

Stopping, Kili held the sword still in front of him but didn't move forward again. "So fighting against something then?"

"Fighting with direction," Glorfindel amended.  "Currently you're fighting against everything around you, that will exhaust you faster than anything else.  Burn you out, wear you down."

Kili considered him before nodding. "Alright. I'll give it some thought."

"So, what do you say to helping me train the others? And then we can see about going hunting for a few demons to take aggression out on."

"Alright," Kili said, going back to some of the calmer strikes from before. "It's still different," he said. "The weight of it, the speed of it."

"You'll adjust.  It'll take time, but you'll adjust.  It took me longer than I expected, but you've already got a better hold on it that I did at that time," Glorfindel said, recognizing when the door started to open again.

Kili kept moving through the practice motions. "I was always better with a cross bow."

"We'll need to get you some steel-tipped arrows then, and that'll mean you'll probably need to relearn that slightly.  Wooden weapons won't do anything against these creatures," Glorfindel said, simply.

"I think, all rage considered, a sword will do just fine," Kili said and Elladan stopped from where they entered.

"Okay, so one of us can use a sword?" he tried to sound cheerful about it.

Glorfindel lowered his blade and stepped back, "Yes, very well too.  Pick up a sword, gentlemen.  We're just waiting for--" he broke off as the door opened again, allowing Arwen and Legolas entrance, "Ah, here they are."

Kili tried not to smirk at the fact the for once he knew more than the others did, watching Elladan eying the sword selection sideways.

Arwen moved over to the table, Legolas hanging back as the other three considered the selection.  Glorfindel clapped a hand on Kili's shoulder as he moved over and picked up a blade, holding it out to the other blond, "Try this one."

Legolas hesitated before letting his hand curl around the hilt, holding it awkwardly.

"That's not," Kili started, laughing and tried to stifle it rather than insult his new kin. "Look, that's really not how you're supposed to hold a sword."

Elladan picked one up, more like the foils he had used in the past, playfully whacking it against his brother's.

Glorfindel stepped over to help show Arwen how to hold the blade she'd picked up.  Legolas swallowed down his pride before looking at Kili, "Show me?  Haven't done this before."

"Yeah," Kili said, setting his own blade down and stepping forward. "Here, hands here," he said, putting his hands on Legolas' and moving them around. "And hold it out like this."

Adjusting his grip, Legolas glanced at his father's other childe, "Thanks. How are...?"  He broke off, swallowing hard, "How by heaven and hellfire are we supposed to do this?"

"You," Kili started, frowning at him and then he laughed. "Oh my god. _Oh my god_ , you bastards genuinely don't understand this, do you?"

Legolas offered him a narrow-eyed look and took a few steps away from him, lowering the blade.  Arwen looked in that direction, speaking quietly, "Kili..."

Glorfindel looked over, "No, he's right.  Even if his delivery could be better."

"No, no," Kili held up a hand, his entire world skewing as he understood the difference his world and the vampire’s. "It's hilarious. Because this--learning weapons, being scared every time you walk out of the damn house, knowing that the thing out there is more powerful but fighting anyway--this _has been my whole life_ because of _you_ and now you're finally, _finally_ seeing the other side of it and you're pathetic about it. Did you truly never understand before?"

Legolas took another step back, his jaw tensing, "It's never been something I've had to fear."

Arwen moved over, pausing a few paces away, "We were regular humans before we were turned.  We didn't know, or very few of us did.  We've--"

She was cut off as Legolas finished, "Forgotten what it is to fear what's in the shadows."

"You know, it's funny you call us the hunters," Kili said, mouth a thin line of anger still. "Since we more often feel like the hunted. Maybe you do deserve some of your own damn medicine."

"It's not about deserving," Elladan said. "Not anymore."

"At this point it's about preserving," Elrohir said from his brother's side.  "Both us and Durin's descendants."  Glorfindel watched the exchange quietly, his expression unreadable as he considered Kili.

Kili nodded, expression still dark but he gestured Legolas forward. "Come on. Sword up, like I told you."

Legolas hesitated for the briefest of moments before raising his blade, readjusting his grip back to where it was supposed to be.

"Good," Kili said, tone strained. "Now you're going to want to put your feet out like this," and demonstrated the stance. Still further across the room, Elladan also tried to follow it.

Glorfindel moved to correct the others' stances, keeping one eye on Kili and Legolas but letting Kili work specifically with the other member of his line as the lesson progressed.

By the time another hour had passed, most of Kili's anger had been brutally suppressed in favor of showing Legolas proper form, and if occasionally it escaped and he hit Legolas a bit harder with the flat of the blade than he should, he hoped no one else noticed.

Glorfindel finally stepped away from where he had been sparring with Arwen and taking her through the basics, "Alright, swords down.  Kili, let us show them how this ought to look," the tension in Thranduil's youngest childe had not gone entirely unnoticed. Kili looked at him over his shoulder before he grinned, moving over.

Glorfindel stepped just far enough away from the others that he and Kili wouldn't risk hitting them and raised his sword, returning the grin, "At your leisure."

Smile turning even sharper Kili darted forward. He was still feeling off balance but remembered more of his former lessons now, the sword starting to feel natural again.

"There we go," Glorfindel said, smile widening as he met the attack, parrying and keeping his footwork even.  He could see the slight hesitations in a couple of Kili's moves, but they were subtle, barely there.

At one point, Kili almost tripped over his own footwork, the movement different with new strength behind it but he kept to his feet, and threw himself into the duel, focus narrowing. Moving with the dance of the fight, Glorfindel stepped backward and his steps stuttered as his foot landed strangely, but he recovered quickly.  The clash of blades and quiet tap of steps set a rhythm that was familiar to him as they sparred.

Finally Glorfindel landed a blow that had Kili stumble and he had to take several shaky steps backward to keep his feet. Chest heaving in breaths he didn't have to take, he held his sword up in a salute. Glorfindel returned the salute, stepping back and offering Kili a slight bow, "Well done."

Kili's smile was still sharp. "You too, old man."

That earned a laugh from Glorfindel, "You have cheek, lad.  I like that.  And good with a sword, too."

Kili nodded, accepting the compliment with a tired nod of his head.

Looking down at his own sword, Elladan shook his head. "Well, I suppose new goals are something to strive for."

Arwen nodded with wide eyes, "That's what it's supposed to look like?"

Glorfindel looked toward them, grinning, "Eventually.  Until then it would be best you go out with someone who knows what they're doing.  And carry a metal weapon that you know how to use."

"Knives," Elladan nodded to himself. "That worked pretty well last time."

Elrohir nodded his agreement, "Long knives."

"We've several of those," Glorfindel said, looking at Arwen and Legolas who nodded as well.  "Knives it is for now.  You'll need the swords eventually, but perhaps we'll try you with a different blade next," he said, considering Arwen specifically.

"Something longer," Kili said, also looking at Arwen. "Slender. I think I saw one earlier that might suit," he said, looking over at the swords that Galadriel had given them, mostly the steel ones for training.

Glorfindel nodded, picking up a particular blade and weighing it before handing it over to Legolas, "And this one might suit you a shade better." Kili watched the blond for a moment before looking away.

Legolas tried the weight of the blade, finding the hilt fit his hands better and it didn't feel quite so awkward. He managed a hint of a smile, "Thank you."  He paused, glancing at Kili and setting the sword down again.

Looking over at Legolas, Kili approached Glorfindel. "If the plan is the track the demons, I don't think they're prepared yet. It would be stupid to expect them to fight now."

"Have fought demons," Elladan protested, raising a hand. "For the record."

"You got lucky and caught them entirely off-guard," Glorfindel replied, looking back to Kili.  "We haven't the luxury of time to wait until they're fully prepared, but you may be right.  Suggestions?"

"Well, firstly make sure there are pairs of experienced and less so," he said. "The Lady seems to have her shit together, if some of the elders want to take tonight’s patrol and give us at least another day."

"I'll speak with them about that," Glorfindel agreed, looking at the other four.  "You lot didn't have any plans tonight, did you?"

"Uh," Elladan glanced at Legolas and shrugged. "No?"

"Good," the older vampire nodded, turning his attention back to Kili, "We'll take advantage of the time we have tonight, see if we can't get a bit more training in."

"Your scholar any good with a sword?" Kili asked, the nickname as oddly affectionate as old man had been.

Glrofindel's lips curled up into a smile, "It's been a long time since I've seen him wield one, but if he's still as good as he was then, the answer's yes."  He turned his attention to Arwen, "If you could speak with your grandsires about this, I'll see if I can find Erestor.  We'll all reconvene here in an hour, agreed?"

The twins nodded, Kili trying to flip the sword around and keep it balanced.

Arwen nodded her agreement, slipping out of the room.  Setting his sword down on the table, Glorfindel watched Kili for a moment before leaving to locate Erestor.  Elrohir curled a hand around his brother's wrist, glancing between Legolas, whose blue eyes were focused on the work Kili was doing with the blade, and Kili before murmuring, "What are the chances that if we leave them alone they won't murder each other?"

"Relatively low," Elladan said. "It's not my current concern though."

"Agreed, come on," he pulled his brother out of the room with him, Legolas barely glancing in their direction.

"Something on your mind?" Kili asked as the room fell into silence and Legolas didn't leave.

"I've been an ass.  So have you, but you've got more reason for it at this point," Legolas finally said.

"Excuse me?" Kili said, frozen for a moment before turning to stare at the other vampire.

"I said I've been an ass.  Insensitive, and bordering on cruel a couple of times.  You didn't need that, you didn't ask for this," Legolas replied, his attention focused on the opposite wall rather than on Kili.

Kili stared at him, shoulders shifting back warily. "Is this an apology?"

Legolas shifted uncomfortably at that before he nodded, "Yeah, I guess that is what this is."

"It's a shit apology," Kili said, not feeling like giving any more ground than he had earlier in the lesson.

The blond grit his teeth, "Not much used to making them.  Not like saying I'm sorry is going to change what was said."

"No," Kili said, resting the tip of his sword on the ground. "But it lays the groundwork of getting along in the future. Apologies ain't about the past, it's about where you're going in the future."

Legolas drew an unnecessary breath to try and gather himself, "I am sorry.  I shouldn't have been so...harsh before."

"This doesn't mean I forgive you," Kili said. "For anything. But I'm starting to realize that you all have your issues, your own problems. And my very existence was one for you, isn't it?"

The blond looked down  at the table he was leaning against, "Yeah, shouldn't be but it was."

"Was is past tense," Kili said.

"I'm figuring out ways to deal with it.  Most of them involve not giving a damn what Ada thinks....it helps that I haven't seen him much."

"Well I haven't either," Kili shrugged. "Which, may be scary, I don't rightly know."

Legolas turned his head to look at Kili finally, "Wait, _you_ haven't seen him?"

"Should I have?" Kili asked.

Blue eyes narrowing, Legolas nodded, "He should have been with you for most of this time."

"Because of vampires?" Kili asked.

"Because he's never cast a childe on their own before.  Usually he drives us away by being himself later, Tauriel's a good example, but this isn't normal.  Other sires do, but Thranduil--" he broke off, growling lowly.  "I'll be back shortly."

"Hey," Kili darted forward to grab his arm. "Where are you going?"

"To get some answers from our sire," Legolas replied, shaking off the grip automatically.

"Come off it," Kili said. "It's not going to be worth it."

"Isn't it?" Legolas turned to face him, "If he hasn't been around you and he hasn't been around me I want to know why."

"Do you like him?" Kili asked. "Because I sure don't."

"He's," Legolas raked a hand through his hair, "It's hard to explain.  I could have left, more than once.  But, I just...even if I don't like him all the time I care about him.  And if he's doing this he's not doing well."

Kili looked away. "Huh. Somehow I don't think I'm going to every get there."

 Legolas paused at that, "You had something like that before.  I, I didn't."

"No, except maybe yes," Kili shrugged. "I can't ever see myself being fond of my murderer."

That earned a very slight nod, "I can understand that.  I guess, I never saw him that way. Which is a weird thing to say, but it's true."

"Yeah, well," Kili refused to look back at him. "There's something about still wanting to live the life I had."

Legolas hesitated, "I'm sorry this happened to you."

That got Kili to finally look at him. "What?"

"I didn't choose this life, not really, but it's better than what I had.  You didn't choose it and you didn't want it and you would rather have had the life you had before.  Words are useless in this situation, but I'm sorry you ended up turned."

"Just when I thought you were starting to like my charming personality," Kili said.

Legolas snorted, "Since all we've done is snarl at each other I can't speak to _charming._ "

"Well, when I try to be, I suppose," Kili said.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Legolas replied with a grin.

"Yeah? It's not like you've been much of a charming butterfly either," he said with a shrug.

"We could both stand to try," Legolas admitted.  "If I'm going to get to him before he goes out tonight I have to go now."

"If you're yelling at him for my sake, I'd rather you didn't."

"I'm yelling at him for his sake.  And mine," Legolas answered.

"Then alright, have a go at it," Kili said, stepping back.

Legolas offered him a ghost of a smile, "Thank you."  He slipped out, making for the part of the mansion he knew that Thranduil frequented.  Slinking through the halls he finally located the right room, pushing the door open and steeling his shoulders as he stepped inside, "Ada."

"And what could I possibly do for you?" Thranduil asked, holding a long sword, curved at one end and inlaid with a golden metal. He flipped it around, sheathing it in the scabbard he wore on his belt.

"You could tell me why you're avoiding me and your other childe," Legolas answered, leaning against the door to block his way out.

"It has taken you an awfully long time to come and see me," Thranduil said.

"Used to be I didn't have to search you out."

"Used to be," Thranduil agreed. "Is there something you want to talk about? Celeborn is waiting."

"Why are you avoiding us?  Your other childe hasn't seen you.  You turned him and then cast him loose.  Are you trying to drive us out?" Legolas' eyes narrowed.

"I have never once tried to drive anyone out," Thranduil said, heat entering his voice.

"Well, you're doing a good job of it right now," Legolas snapped.  "You've been hiding from Kili, from me. And damn you I want to know why."

"He has made it clear he has no interest in me," Thranduil said. "And I have been avoiding you no less than ever."

Legolas shifted back on his heels, "Haven't you?"

"You seem to be quite distracted with something else," Thranduil said. "Always on your phone and gone for long hours of the night. You have avoided me as much as I have avoided you.”

"I've been hunting." Legolas answered, "And so I'm on my phone, that's what it's for, isn't it?"

"You seem to think you're sneakier than you are," Thranduil said, shaking his head. "But it has been many years since you took an interest in anyone. Simply do not blame me for what you have done."

"For what I've done?"  Legolas gaped at him, "So I've taken an interest in someone.  And it doesn't change the fact that you've been ignoring me.  There was a time you might have actually confronted me about it.  Or done something.  What's _wrong_?"

"Demons and hell portals aren't enough for you?" Thranduil  asked, brows going up over his pale eyes.

"They weren't here when this started," Legolas responded.

"By a handful of weeks," Thranduil said.

"Are you claiming precognition now? Because you still started avoiding and ignoring before that was a viable excuse."

Thranduil just stared at him, perfectly still as only the older vampires could be. "You think Galadriel is the only one who looks in that mirror of hers?"

Legolas took a half step back, "That's why you turned him.  That's what you 'saw in him,' isn't it?"

"Celeborn is waiting for me," Thranduil said, moving forward.

He finally stepped aside, "Fine.  Good luck, Ada."

For a moment longer, Thranduil looked at him before he breezed past.

Legolas leaned against the wall for a long moment, trying to gather himself together again before returning to the sparring room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thorin's grief period would have been radically different if Dwalin had been there.


	13. Don't Need to Remind Me at All

Stepping down the stairs, Dwalin looked up as Ori appeared, coming out of the kitchen with two cups of tea. "We need to talk," Ori said, looking up.

"I am starting to feel like everyone has been asking me to talk," Dwalin said but accepted one of the cups anyway as Ori led him to the library. "Does Dori know how often you come here?"

"Yes," Ori said, sipping at the tea before he moved several books he had been working on out of the way. "But people probably won't disturb us here."

Dwalin said down at the table, looking at the books. "And does Dori know you've been reading these?"

"More or less," Ori said. "Dis took training into her own hands, and Dori has finally allowed that I need it," and Dwalin's brows shot up. "Hell portal. Makes people do all sorts of crazy things. Besides, we ran into demons last night at a coffee shop. No where's going to be safe anymore."

"So you finally got your wish," Dwalin remarked and Ori looked down. "Victory tastes bitter, doesn't it?"

"Must it always?" Ori sighed, turning his tea cup around before looking back up, but not disagreeing in the least. "I assume Thorin and Dis have caught you up."

"Yes," Dwalin said and looked at Ori. "Thorin is talking about contacting the vampires, for an alliance." Against better judgment and sense he had always told Ori more than either of his brothers or Thorin would have appreciated. But few could offer clear advice either.

"The vampires want one too," Ori said and Dwalin's head whipped up. "They want an alliance. They have even less interest in demons than we do. One of them climbed out of the portal, he had been there for three hundred years."

Dwalin gaped at him. "How do you even know this? You're good Ori, but even you shouldn't have that information."

"Gimli's dating one," Ori said and Dwalin choked on his tea. "More or less, they're sorta on the rocks right now. I mean, dating in a really awkward sense."

Shaking his head, Dwalin set the cup down. "Gimli is dating one?"

Ori hummed. "Since we can't go out alone, he decided to take me with. Ironically, they're not allowed out on their own either. I've been reading up on the two I've been having tea with. They're old, but not that old. You know, most of the vampires we fight are fledglings, turned by other fledglings. Even without us, they don't live more than a year or two on average, killing each other and turning humans and generally being a mess. But these ones--they're hundreds of years old at the least and they travel with Galadriel."

"Thorin said," Dwalin said, voice faint. "She's as old as Durin."

"Yeah," Ori nodded. "And they want an alliance with us, because of the demons. No one is going to make out well in this situation."

"They're still vampires," Dwalin said, hands tightening on the cup and forcing them to relax before he broke it.

"Yes," Ori said, watching him closely. "They still are. And Gimli is still mad. And Kili is still dead to us and Thorin and Fili and Dis are still hurting but a vampire clawed his way out of a hell portal, and others closed it down."

Sighing, Dwalin leaned back, running a hand over his eyes. "Gimli truly dragged him with you to a meeting with vampires?"

"Yeah," Ori sighed. "Not the best move ever but I learned a lot."

"You should learn from books first," Dwalin said, tapping one and Ori let out a breath, rolling his head around.

"Don't you start with me, Mr. Dwalin." He grinned when Dwalin laughed, leaning forward and taking his hands in both of his. "I've missed you. So much."

Dwalin's smile was fond and he gripped Ori's hands in turn. "I'm back now."

"We have to have this alliance with the vampires," Ori said. "Convince Thorin, because the vampires are already convinced."

"I'll do what I can," Dwalin sighed. "They are talking about setting up a meeting as it is."

"Come on," Ori said, whacking Dwalin's shoulder. "Drink your tea."

-0-

"No, you should have another drink," Nori said, pressing another one at Dwalin who raised a brow at him. He had come out of the library, carrying the tea cups to be instantly accosted by Nori, who dragged him to the back den where he had hastily put up streamers and got the rest of the family to bring their beer and liquor stores for a welcome home party.

Balin sat down next to his brother, holding his own drink, "It's good to have you back, brother."

"And it's good to be back," Dwalin said, leaning over to knock their foreheads together lightly.

Balin offered him a smile at that, "You seem to have taken care of yourself."

"As well as I could," he agreed. "But that's also because you did not see me the week after we returned from the Amazon."

"You're supposed to say 'of course I did', and not admit to otherwise," Balin said, chuckling.

"You'd call me out on it eventually," Dwalin shrugged, taking a deep drink from the bottle Nori had thrust at him. "Might as well get it over with."

Balin snorted slightly at that, "Well, you made it home.  That's what matters."

Dwalin knocked their shoulders together. "And that's what matters. Are you getting wider as well as sentimental in your old age?"

Balin chuckled and shook his head, "Older, but no wider."

"Really?" Dwalin asked, jabbing a figure into Balin's side. "You look shorter too."

Batting his brother's hand away, Balin nodded, "I'm sure.  And I'm pretty sure I've not shrunk either."

"If you say so," Dwalin said, eyes glittering as Nori scrambled up on the den table that often served as a desk. Luckily, it was made of sturdy oak and held his weight as he lifted up his bottle.

"A toast!" he said, Dwalin looking over and groaning before Nori even started speaking. "To Dwalin, the traveling hunter who has only now graced us with his presence after a long absence. I'm sure it will take him no time at all to fall back into being the killjoy he is and always has, and always shall be!"

That earned a round of laughter and echoes of "to Dwalin," Balin laughing from where he leaned next to his brother.

"Oi!" Dwalin called out and Nori laughed so hard he sat down on the desk. "Don't make me come over there and be a killjoy!"

Dis dropped into another seat next to Dwalin, smiling for what felt the first time in ages and nodding to Balin. "Dis," Dwalin smiled. "It's nice to see you smile."

She glanced at him, "It feels odd, but good, to be smiling again."

"I hope you have other occasions to do so," he said, holding his bottle up to her.

Across the room, Ori dragged Gimli off to the side. "Can I borrow your phone?"

"My phone?" Gimli asked, looking up. "I know it's nicer than yours but I know you have one--"

"Yes, but oddly enough, Elladan and Elrohir have never given me their numbers and I need to know either what Legolas' is or theirs. We still need to know what those demons were."

Gimli blinked and then nodded. "You can try calling him, or texting him for one of their numbers but I can't promise much."

"Moody creatures, aren't they?" Ori said under his breath, accepting the cell phone Gimli handed him. "I told Dwalin by the way," he added and slipped out of the room, leaving Gimli gaping after him.

Across the city, Legolas checked the text that came through on his phone and hesitated before sending Elrohir's number back.  He rounded the corner and nearly collided with the twins as Elrohir's phone rang.  The dark-haired vampire picked up the phone quickly, "Hello?"

"Hi," Ori said. "So, demon. What were they?"

"Whoa, what?  Ori?  How did you get this number?" Elrohir glanced at the way Legolas shifted at that, "Never mind. You don't beat around the bush much do you?"

"Sorry, it's not been a night for it," Ori said. "Do you know anything about it?"

"Is that Ori?" Elladan said, chin on Elrohir's shoulder so he could talk more toward the phone as well.

Elrohir nodded in answer to his brother, "They're flesh-eaters and you'll want to use metal weapons--swords and other things that will decapitate and eviscerate.  And there's probably a, oh what did he call it, a commander involved."

"A commander?" Ori asked. "They have a commander?"

"That's the term applied.  But this sort apparently doesn't have much control over themselves without direct orders from someone else."

Ori rubbed a hand over his face. "Alright, I'd gotten the flesh eater part up close and personal." He let out a deep breath. "But a commander... fuck."

"We've got people out seeking their nest tonight, but," Elrohir paused, shaking his head.  "We've no idea exactly where to look."

"Alright," Ori said as another cheer went up inside the room and he brought a hand up to his face because he knew his brother had either said something stupid or finally fallen off the table.

"Sounds like quite the party you all have going on there," Elrohir remarked, leaning against Elladan and tipping the phone enough for his brother to hear everything better automatically.

"Sorta," Ori said, not wanting to say that Dwalin was home.

Legolas looked past the twins and his eyes widened slightly at where he could see Glorfindel standing behind them.  Elrohir followed his gaze and swallowed, "Gotta go.  Be careful."

"What?" Ori frowned. "Why? What's wrong?"

Elrohir pulled the phone away from his ear, offering Glorfindel a smile as he started to close it, "Hours up already?"

"Nearly.  Whoever are you talking to at this hour?"

"Just a contact," Elladan said.

Elrohir snapped the phone shut, stashing it in his pocket in the face of Glorfindel's skeptical glance, "Does your contact have a name?"

"Everyone has a name," Elrohir answered easily.

Kili came down the stairs behind Glorfindel. "I mean, it's not important is it?" Elladan said, leaning an elbow on his brother's shoulder.

Glorfindel's eyebrow arched as Arwen slid up beside Legolas, "Play to my curiosity if you would."

"Well it's Legolas' problem," Elladan shrugged after a moment.

Legolas swore at that, narrowing his eyes at the twins, "Thank you, both."

Glorfindel's attention turned to him, "Care to enlighten us?"

His gaze flicked to Kili and then back to Glorfindel, "It was Ori."

That captured Kili's complete attention, though his memories were still vague enough that it took him a moment to place the name with sweaters and big eyes and acerbic comments. " _Ori_ is talking to you?"

Glorfindel turned slightly to look at Kili, "You know this person?"

"He's a hunter," Kili said.

The older vampire turned back again, "You're in contact with a hunter?  How exactly is this your problem when the twins were talking to him?"

Legolas hesitated, shifting his weight, "They met him because I dragged them out with me to meet a different hunter."

Kili blinked slowly, still behind Glorfindel's shoulder. "You were asking me about Gimli."

Pausing again, Legolas finally nodded, "Yes, I was."

Elrohir buried his head against Elladan's shoulder, "You may as well come out with it."

Legolas offered them another glare before speaking, "We...met for coffee once or twice."

Glorfindel stared at him for a long moment before starting to laugh, "Heaven and hellfire you've been courting a hunter?"

"Pathetically," Elladan sighed. "He's courting him pathetically." Behind Glorfindel, Kili sat down hard on the stairs.

Arwen rolled her eyes at all of them and moved around the edges of the group to sit down by Kili.  Legolas' jaw tensed, "Yes, wonderful, now that you've all had a go."

"I'm just amazed at the gall of doing something like that," Glorfindel shook his head.  "I suppose it offers a route to speaking to the hunters if need be, at least."

"Ori," Kili repeated. "And Gimli." He frowned, attempting to remember exactly what he wanted to about the others.

Glorfindel looked around at the younger vampires, "If you lot are up to it, we should get on with the training.  What was this Ori contacting you about?"

"The demons," Elrohir answered.

"He's the one who ran into them," Elladan said and Kili buried his face in his hands.

Glorfindel paused and arched an eyebrow, "And his response was to contact you for more information?"

Elrohir nodded, "He was one of the ones who saw hell open."

"Bout this tall," Elladan said, motioning in the air. "Fondness for knitwear. Big eyes."

"That's exactly who I thought," Glorfindel nodded.  "He's quite the person."

Kili looked at the twins as Erestor started down the stairs. Elrohir glanced toward Erestor's approach and cleared his throat, "Well, we still have a lot of work to do with the swords, you said so yourself."

Erestor stopped next to Kili. "And what horrible parody of discourse have I walked into this time?" he asked. "That Elrohir is so quick to have me not hear?"

Arwen looked up at him, "They were just contacted by a hunter for information about the demons because Legolas has been courting one of the hunters."

Blinking once, Erestor blinked again. "You've been courting a hunter?"

Legolas shifted back on his heels, "Yes."

Crossing his arms, Erestor arched a brow. "And was this before or after we started talking about allying with them?"

"It, um, technically before," Legolas admitted quietly.

Erestor stared. "Are you mad?"

"As has been made abundantly clear to me, yes," he said, tensing.

"At least it's helpful now," Elladan shrugged.

"But, Gimli," Kili said, holding his hands out in front of him without sitting up.

Arwen looked at him, "What about him?"

"He's so--" Kili started and darted up suddenly, grabbing the front of Legolas' shirt and whirling him around to slam against the wall. "You cannot hurt him."

Legolas' hands came immediately to catch Kili's wrists, "I don't want to hurt him.  Hellfire, I don't even know if I'm still seeing him!  I don't know where we are as...as anything."

"I don't care," Kili said. "This is the only warning I'm going to give you. You cannot hurt him."

Still on the stairs, Erestor looked over at Glorfindel with an arched brow. Glorfindel shrugged slightly, watching the two childer quietly.  Legolas dropped his hands and met Kili's eyes, "Do you care because he's part of your past life or because he's Gimli?"

"Both," Kili said. "They aren't separate."

"I'm not going to hurt him," Legolas said evenly.

Kili snarled at him before drawing back. "And you," he said turning to Elladan and Elrohir. "I'd threaten you too, but I think Dori would beat me to any meaningful action."

Elrohir blinked at that, but nodded, "Got it."

"Good," Kili said and stalked into the side room where the weapons had been laid out. Erestor watched him go before looking back at Glorfindel.

"And he's the one who can use a sword? Well, there are not worries of divided loyalties there, are there?"

"I think the fact that the sword is going to be used to defend them might assuage that fact," Glorfindel replied, watching as Arwen and Legolas followed Kili.

"Still," Erestor said. "When this crisis passes, he could be dangerous."

"We'll deal with that when the time comes.  Demons first, and then possible disloyalty in the lines," Glorfindel said, stepping into the side room to pick up his sword again.

Erestor's frown after him had less to do with Kili and more with his lover's obsessive behavior concerning demons.

-0-

Bofur leaned against the wall, a beer in hand, watching as Dwalin's welcome home party while mostly focusing on FIli across the room.  He was feeling a little buzzed and was considering another drink as he finished off the drink in his hand.  His attention was drawn away as his brother approached, "Hey, Bombur."

Bombur nodded at him, plate filled with cheese and crackers in one hand and no beer. "Hello," he said, adding cheese on top of a cracker before munching through it.

Bofur stole a piece of the cheese, eating it, "Not a bad party."

"It's not bad," Bombur agreed, though he eyed his lost cheese before shaking it off. "You've been busy for not having anywhere to go."

His brother shrugged slightly, taking a swig of his beer, "Things to do, you know?"

"People to stare at," Bombur offered.

"What?" Bofur turned his head to look at Bombur fully.

"The boy," Bombur said. "Didn't he punch you?"

Bofur looked across the room again as he nodded, "He was upset, made sense."

Eying his sideways, Bombur just shook his head. "And now that everyone and their dog in this house knows you're a bit more than just wary acquaintances?"

"What's the question there?"

"You and Fili," he said.

Bofur was a bit wary as he shrugged, "There's a me and Fili.  Bombur, what are you asking?"

"If the sex is worth the crazy I guess," Bombur shrugged, marveling at how dense his brother could chose to be.

"We're not, we're not actually sleeping together," Bofur said, not adding 'yet'.

"So making eyes and fools of yourselves," Bombur shrugged. "The point being that you're in or looking for a relationship."

"We're in one, I think.  I mean, we are," Bofur tugged at a lock of his hair.

"And you think that's quite a good idea then?" Bombur asked, eating through more crackers and cheese.

"Bombur, when's the last time I had a _good_ idea?"

"It's a decent point but this is beyond the usual pale," Bombur said. "He's a Durin. We're not really part of this family, remember?"

Bofur took another swig of his drink, frowning at it when he realized it was the dregs, "Yeah, I remember that.  Hard to forget sometimes."

"And you really want to bind yourself that much closer?" Bombur asked.

"I care about him.  A lot," Bofur replied.  "So, yeah."

"Huh," Bombur said, watching the rest of the room.

Bofur stole a cracker, looking at his brother, "It's not really as bad as all that, is it?"

Bombur shrugged. "It could be worse, I suppose. But it's not like you chose someone like Ori or even Dori. No, you had to go for Thorin's mini-me with all associated issues." He chewed and swallowed a cracker before continuing. "At least he's prettier than Thorin."

Bofur's jaw tensed very slightly, "He's not actually much like his uncle at all."

"Really?" Bombur asked. "You mean he's capable of talking about his emotions and isn't more inclined to punch people in the face or attack them with a crossbow?"

"Well, no.  Though the crossbow is less likely," Bofur offered.

"The gist remains the same," Bombur shrugged. "You're walking into the same issues."

Bofur paused and then shrugged, "Well, it ain't gonna be easy, but I want to try and make it work."

"I suppose that's the time to offer you luck," Bombur said as Fili broke off his conversation with Oin to grin over at Bofur. "Huh," Bombur managed, blinking.

Bofur returned the grin, lifting his empty beer bottle to Fili and glancing at his brother, "Really that shocked?"  He paused and then spoke again, "Gotta admit I am."

"I'm surprised you're both having a go," Bombur admitted.

"Better than it just bein' one of us,” Bofur said, not quite sulking.

"If it was just one of you, I'd have to probably slap someone tonight and I would rather not."

"See, so it works out for all involved that it's not," Bofur said with a grin.

"And Thorin?" Bombur asked, watching his brother.

"Threatened to rip out my lungs and toss me off a pier if I hurt Fili," Bofur answered.

"No, I said I would tie you to the pier and then rip your lungs off," Thorin said from behind them and Bombur startled in surprise as Thorin continued walking past. "I would probably leave you hanging there afterwards."

Bofur offered a shaky smile at that, "Right, that."

Bombur watched Thorin move off. "That was almost good humored."

"Almost, yeah.  And the closest thing I'm thinking I'll get to his blessing,” Bofur said, crossing his arms over his chest and suppressing a shiver.

"It's not that bad as far as blessings go," Bombur shrugged. "It's more than I expected." His eyes drifted back to Bofur. "But you have thought about this, right? You are not just running into something blindly?"

Bofur nodded, "You're worrying too much.  I've thought about it."

"No one can worry too much about you or that family," Bombur huffed, and frowned at his now empty plate.

Bofur huffed out a laugh, "Well, you come close then."

"If you say so," Bombur said, watching Bifur and Nori start trying to dance around the other side of the room. He shrugged, wandering off to find more cheese if any was left.

-0-

The afternoon sunlight was slanting in through the windows when Bofur plopped himself down in a chair next to Fili, "I meant what I said I couple of days ago about you needing to get out of the house for a while."

Fili's eyes flickered up. "What would you have in mind?"

"What if we went and got an early dinner, or even just took a long walk.  Something."

"Dinner over a long walk," Fili said, closing the book he had been reading at Ori's insistence.

Bofur offered him a grin at that, "Great."

"When?" Fili asked, watching the other and remembering to well the feel of his body pressed against Bofur's, the other's hands warm against his skin. The night before he had slept in the bed and Bofur on the couch as if nothing had happened the morning before.

Now it was just starting to feel embarrassing how hard it was to focus on what Bofur was saying and not to think about his tongue doing other things.

Bofur glanced at the clock, "An hour and a half?"

"We could go now," Fili said, thinking about it. "And do both."

The other man nodded, "I like that idea."

"Just let me find a coat then," Fili said, sliding the book across the side table and unfolding. "Unless you would like to preen first or something."

Bofur laughed, "No, just need to grab my own coat."

"Alright," Fili said, smile faint as he rooted around the closet by the door, looking up to see Dwalin watching and realizing he would have to get used to that again. "It's good to see you up and about," he grinned. "How many beers did you drink?"

"Just because Nori drinks like a fish," Dwalin groaned. "He thinks everyone should. Are you going out?"

"Yeah," he said and saw the line of Dwalin's shoulders tense. "It's still light. It's not for anything to do with vampires."

Dwalin hesitated, clearly wanting to say something else but he only nodded at the sound of Bofur coming down the hallway. "I presume I don't have to remind you I all but raised this boy as a son?" he rumbled, leveling Bofur with a look.

Bofur pulled his coat on and shifted back slightly, nodding, "Don't need to remind me at all."

"So we can just assume that I do not need to give you a shovel talk?" Dwalin asked, forearms over his chest, showing off both muscles and tattoos. Fili beside him flushed.

"I'm sure my mind can come up with creative threats without hearing them," Bofur agreed.

"Good," Dwalin said, flexing his muscles again to drive the physical threat home and Fili's blush reached the tips of his ears.

Bofur offered a nervous grin at that, "Alright then."  He glanced at Fili, "Shall we go, then?"

"Yes," Fili said and grabbed his arm and dragged him out the door, ignoring Dwalin's laugh as he shut the door behind them.

Shaking his head, his grin widening, Bofur looked at Fili, "You know I was expecting this, right?"

"You say that like it should make it any less embarrassing," Fili muttered.

"Well, your uncle and Dwalin have already talked to me, so I figure at least part of it's out of the way."

"Where are we going?" Fili asked, once they had walked far enough that he had stopped blushing.

"I was thinking the big park, there's a few restaurants around it that are good."

"Lots of open space," Fili said, though he shifted slightly closer to Bofur as they walked.

"But also known routes in and out, and good lines of sight," Bofur replied.

Fili laughed. "Well, if we can escape quickly." Even with Bofur there, he felt exposed.

That earned a grin, "Which ideally won't be needed, sun's still high."

"It'll set soon enough," Fili said, looking around as they walked and slowly only starting to realize how long it had been since he dared to leave the house, pain and grief keeping him inside. Fili followed as Bofur turned to skirt along the edges of the park, though it took him several more steps before he picked up Bofur's hand. "This feels like a date."

Bofur hesitated as he twined his hand with Fili's, "Is that alright?"

"Never really had one before," he said. "But I think so."

"I'm glad," Bofur offered him a bit of a smile.

Fili looked away before he thought about it too much and panicked. "It's a nice day," he said, having been watching the rain for weeks as it hit the windows. "Nice timing."

"Well, I may have been taking advantage of the fact that it's finally clear,” Bofur admitted.

"You technically asked me yesterday," Fili said.

"Well, that's true.  But we hadn't really figured out when, so I'm going to claim that it's because it was clear," he said with a grin.

Fili hummed, their entwined arms swinging together slightly and he noticed a few people giving them sideways looks, a couple girls pointing and grinning behind his hands and he was unsure which made him more uncomfortable. "We're almost there, right?"

"Just around the next corner," Bofur said, pointing to the restaurant as they came around.  "I was thinking that one."

"Cute," Fili said, tightening his grip. It was a cheery looking bistro with a red awning and checkered table cloths. It was not the type of place Kili and Fili used to frequent, buying too many French fries and pretending to be older than they really were.

Bofur offered him a grin, pushing the door open, "I like this place, has a lot of different options."

"You live in an odd place if choice is what you value."

That earned a hint of a smile, Bofur not entirely sure how to reply to Fili.  As much as he had assured Bombur the night before, he still wasn't completely certain where they stood.  They had made a show of nothing having changed the night before when they retired, and he was pretty sure he was unhappy with that idea. "Sometimes change in small things is nice."

Fili's eyes darted up. "Change, huh," he said to himself under his breath. So far change had only implied bad things. "What else do you want to change?"

"I," Bofur ran a hand over the back of his neck, "I'd like to not pretend nothing happened between us yesterday morning."

Fili almost missed a step as they started for a table, the waitress motioning them over. "I never," he started, looking over. "I thought you were pretending nothing had happened."

Bofur blinked twice before laughing shortly, "Well, there's a failure in communication here somewhere, because I thought you were."

"No, I'm just incapable of asking for what I want," Fili said. "I didn't want to push you either."

"We could see about changing that tonight?" Bofur asked, sounding almost unsure about the response.

Fili sat in the chair, the waitress saying something and handing them menus before leaving. He breathed for a few moments before his eyes flickered up. "We could... try," he said finally. "I would like to."

Bofur bit back the first thoughts that came to mind, remembering at the last minute not to compliment the other, but just then Fili looked breathtaking, "Then, then we'll try."

Fili felt distracted the rest of dinner, constantly returning to the thought of what might happen when they returned home. He almost managed to knock his water over at one point and by the time the check came he reached for it automatically. Bofur reached for it at the same time, his hand brushing Fili's and he paused.  The dinner had been good, but scattered as neither of them had been paying as much attention to it or to the moment as they could have.

Blinking, Fili drew his hand back. "We're not really great at this, are we?"

That earned a wry smile, "No, not really.  But I like to think we're putting it together.

"You said something about a walk?" Fili asked, desperate to be moving.

Bofur set down the money for the bill and got to his feet, "Yeah, come on, let's see about that then."

Following him, Fili tried to focus on anything other than what he had been thinking of. "Have you been listening to Thorin and Dwalin?" he asked. "About the demons and everything else?"

Bofur drew a deep breath at that and nodded slightly, "I've been listening, yeah.  Not, not sure what I think of it."

"Not sure the demons care what you would think," Fili said, not quite laughing because it was not funny.

"That I'm sure of.  Trying not to panic about it might be a better description," Bofur answered.

"I don't think its common knowledge," Fili said. "But there's been talk of an alliance with the vampires."

That earned a glance, "What do you think of that idea?"

Fili's eyes dropped to his feet. "It would mean no one would be asking me to kill Kili," he said, looking up to look at the sky where stars were starting to come out.

Bofur paused before reaching for Fili's hand, "That's true.  And they've probably more experience fighting the demons than we do."

Finally, Fili looked over at his, twining their fingers together. "You said there was someone once," he said. "Will you be able to handle it?"

He drew a deep breath, "It's been a long time.  And if we ally with them, I'll handle it."

"I don't want to see Kili again," Fili said, almost too quiet to hear. "And you don't have--have to manage if you need to talk."

Bofur's lips quirked upward faintly, squeezing Fili's hand briefly, "Thank you.  If I need to, I will talk.  If you need to talk, well, please try."

That finally earned a laugh from Fili. "I love how it's not that you trust me to talk, but that you wish for me to _try._ "

"Well, you're working on it, but it’s not exactly something your family's known for," Bofur said, offering him a grin.

"I should be insulted on behalf of my long line," Fili said, teasing and his mind blanked again when he spent too long staring at the shape of Bofur's mouth.

"Well, I don't know if it's the whole line," Bofur replied, still smiling as he ran his free hand over the back of his neck.

"Some ancestor might have got it," Fili agreed.

That earned a laugh, "And so, I hope you'll try at least."

"Fighting against blood and nurtured life?" Fili said, and smiled up at him.

"Something like that," Bofur agreed, grinning and pausing slightly at the way the smile looked like it fit on Fili's face, how he felt like it belonged and shouldn't be away from him.

Fili stalled, looking up on him. "It," he started and took Bofur's face between his hands, leaning up to kiss him. Bofur startled slightly, but leaned down into the kiss, one hand moving to rest on Fili's waist.

Offering him a sheepish smile as he dropped back down, it took Fili a few more moments to drop his hands.

Pausing for a moment, Bofur finally looked away to glance up at the sky, "We should probably start heading back."

"Yeah," Fili agreed, glancing down and shifting his shoulders back before looking up again with a faint smile. Sliding his hand into Fili's again, Bofur offered him another smile and turned toward home, pausing when he saw someone ahead of them.

"Bilbo," Fili called, recognizing the slender man. "Whatever are you doing out at the park alone at this hour?"

The librarian startled, looking over at them, "Oh, I was just on my way home."  Though not from the library, he had been speaking with the pixies again, and trying to determine where he might find green clothes as he had promised them for their service.

Fili frowned. "You should know better," he said, one hand still in Bofur's.

"You mean because I know what walks through the shadows," Bilbo said, shaking his head, his eyes moving to Bofur and Fili's entwined hands.  "I can take care of myself."

"Now, we never said you couldn't, but it's still smarter to be in by dark," Bofur offered.

That earned an amused huff of breath, "I would rather close up the library than leave a co-worker who doesn't know what stalks the night to do so."

"You're still alone," Fili said. "That's what's dangerous."

Bilbo watched Fili for a long moment before nodding slightly, "Quite probably.  I'll be fine though."

"We could at least finish walking you home," Fili said, still frowning.

The librarian considered that and sighed, "If you feel you must I suppose you could."

"Would you resent it that much?" Fili asked, brow going up.

Across the way, behind another tree lined path, Kili stopped at the sound of his brother's voice, picking it up through the tree line from where he had been mostly listening to Arwen. Before she could finish her sentence, he veered off, easily climbing the tree with its thick branches, sword strapped to his back as they patrolled.

"It's not that I resent it, it's that I feel it's unnecessary," Bilbo answered.

Arwen stopped herself before she called after Kili, shimmying up the tree behind him, the sword she'd been practicing with strapped to her back, and a long dagger that she was more readily able to use at her side.

Bofur blinked at him, "You're walking alone after dark.  Not sure walking with someone's all that unnecessary around here."

Kili glanced at her before turning all his attention back to Fili. For once he had not been searching for his brother but at the sound of his voice was drawn like a moth to an open flame.

"I'm surprised actually," Fili said. "After you had a go at my uncle and mother that you're not taking one at me."

"Your uncle was pretty decided in his desire not to hear my reasoning, and your mother told me to leave her alone until I could talk sense," Bilbo replied, raking a hand through his curls.  "So the question becomes, why would you be any more amenable to my arguments for an alliance with the vampires than they were?"

"My brother is one of them now," Fili said, though he did not quite indicate which way that meant he was going. "And you give up easily if you take a single rejection from either of them that hard."

"There are razor-edged lines I'm treading on every time I speak to your uncle or your mother," Bilbo said. "If it became a true option, and your uncle was brought around to realizing that it is, would you support such an alliance?  Your brother would still be with you if not for the vampires."

Above them, Kili froze, thankful for once he did not need to breathe.

Beneath him, Fili stared stony faced at Bilbo. "My emotions have nothing to do with the fate of the world," he said. "If it is so dire as everyone is acting than saving the world matters more."

The librarian watched him, backing down at that, "You realize that you're the first in your family that I've spoken to who's seen that? Your grief and anger pours off you in waves, but you still see that." He shook his head, catching a glimpse of the way Bofur had tensed beside Fili, "I'm sorry I asked that as I did.  It was callous of me."

"It was," Fili agreed and Kili hunkered further down in the tree. Fili glanced up, an automatic scan he had taken to doing and stopped for barely a second when he saw Kili's dark eyes, swallowing hard as he looked back to Bilbo. "It's not really about us anymore, anyway."

"No, you're right.  It's bigger than that," Bilbo murmured, tilting his head back slightly as a breeze picked up.  "It's bigger than what they've done, and who you are, it's bigger than any of us, and it comes down to the world.  Has anything come of that first portal, yet?"

"Yes," Fili said. "Ori ran into a pair of demons," and in the tree Kili frowned for it had been a pair found by Elladan and Elrohir too. He wondered if Fili was just giving Bilbo information or trying to offer a warning.

Bilbo's eyes widened and he shifted back on his heels at that, "By the lady. Perhaps you're right about being out alone at night in that case."  It was one thing to face down vampires for whom his blood held no use and another to encounter a demon who wouldn't care about that.  It was not as though he carried steel or iron weapons.

"The lady?" Fili inquired.

The librarian paused at that, trying to find an excuse that would be honest and still not disclose where he was from, "My family doesn't hold much with the Judeo-Christian deity."

"Well, no," Fili said. "But that's still not one I've heard."

Bilbo shrugged, "It's something most pass by and I find it offends few around here.  Which can be useful."

"If you say so," Fili agreed after a moment.

"Fili," a voice called from behind them, Fili turning to see Thorin. "What brings you out--Mr. Baggins," he added, noticing the librarian.

Bilbo startled slightly, ducking a half-bow to Thorin, "Mr. Durin." Bofur turned toward Thorin as well, keeping half an eye on Bilbo.

"I was about to ask what you were doing out," Thorin said, looking to Fili and then to Bilbo. "But you appear to be out alone."

"I was on my way home," Bilbo said, echoing his earlier statement to Fili.

"Alone?" Thorin pressed, brow raised, Nori standing behind him but looking down the path they had come up and scanning where Thorin could not see.

"I had no one to walk with me," came the answer, Bilbo looking a shade guilty at that admission.

Thorin stared at him for such a long moment in silence, Nori glanced over his shoulder to make sure Thorin was still there. "No one?" Thorin echoed.

"No one." Which was technically true as the pixies were too small to keep up with him on foot and he had avoided actually entering the fairy realm, "I've never had trouble, and I can take care of myself," he paused. "Usually. I admit that I've been scattered enough recently that the demons slipped my mind tonight."

“Scattered," Thorin questioned, his brows going up. "That is not a safe state to be in, Mr. Baggins. Not now."

He raked a hand through his hair, casting the curls into a wilder state, and offered Thorin a long look, "I never would have guessed. It's not actually ever a safe state to be in, really."

"Less so with demons," Fili muttered and Thorin shifted from foot to foot, even though he agreed.

"If you need an escort," he offered.

Bilbo blinked rapidly at that, smiling before he realized it and cleared his expression, "I wouldn't want to take you from your patrol.  Fili and Bofur have already offered to see me home."

"I meant other nights," Thorin said, awkward, and Nori peered around his shoulder to raise his brows at Bofur.

Bilbo hesitated at that, his lips quirking upward again knowing that it would make some things more complicated even as he answered, "I'd like that, if it wasn't too much trouble." Bofur blinked and then glanced at Nori his own eyebrows rising.

"Alright," Thorin said. "We'll have to work something out."

"Are you patrolling then?" Fili asked before he started asking what exactly his uncle was thinking.

"Yes," Thorin said. "With the demons lately it seems even more relevant."

"What will you do should you encounter them?" Bilbo asked, considering the question for himself as well.

"Demons?" Thorin asked. "Cut their heads off most likely."

"Iron and steel against demon hides?"  Bilbo considered that, "That would work as well as anything."

"As anything?" Thorin asked, voice dropping in amusement. "I'm not sure anything would work half as well."

That earned a hint of a smile from Bilbo, "Probably not.  It would have to be very sharp and hard, I suppose.”

"Mithril would be better," Fili said.

"We don't have much of that left," Thorin replied. "Just a few pieces of armor, knives and but one quiver of arrows."

Bilbo's eyes widened at that, "You have mithril?"

"Nothing like we used to," Thorin said, the words sounding like they hurt.

"I didn't, I didn't realize there was any left anywhere," the librarian said after a moment.

"It does not age," Thorin said. "It never rusts and it's almost indestructible. Much of it has only become lost."

"Surely there," Bilbo paused, considering.  "If it's just been lost, then it has to be somewhere. Some sort of indication of it somewhere."

"Not for many decades," Thorin said. "The search would take too much time."

The librarian thought about that, wondering if there was anyone he could call on.  All he could think was that he had pulled all of his debts in for other things, "And there might only be a night or two."

"Yes," Thorin said, though he frowned as Kili started shifting backwards, trying to move back and slide down the tree. Something had been bothering his senses since they stopped and now it flared up. "Something's here."

Arwen froze darting a glance toward Kili at that. Bilbo shifted back on his heels as Bofur reached for a weapon, the librarian looking to Thorin, "What sort of something?"

"Supernatural," Thorin said, shrugging his crossbow off his shoulder and looking around before his eyes snapped up to the tree. Kili froze, eyes snapping wide as their gazes met, before throwing himself backward out of the tree Arwen dove out of the tree after him, grabbing his wrist and yanking him along as she bolted.

Thorin shot after them, crossbow raised up and reloading the bolts easily. "Stop it," Fili said, jumping forward and knocking the crossbow out of his hands. When Thorin rounded on him, he took off after the vampires. "You said you wanted a damn alliance," he called over his shoulder.

Bofur was close on Fili's heels, not risking letting him out of his sight.  Bilbo hesitated, trying to determine whether to follow them or turn toward home, "Was that--?"

"Fuck," Thorin said and took off after the group, Nori shrugging at Bilbo before bringing up the rear. Bilbo hesitated for a moment longer, catching sight of a flash of green out of the corner of his eyes and taking off after them.

Kili led the group, even though a crossbow bolt had embedded in his leg, and he broke off the wooden part protruding him his leg as he turned a corner too quickly.

"Kili!" Fili screamed as he ran, almost as fast as his brother when they had both lived but slower now. "Kili! Stop!"

Arwen kept a pace behind Kili, "We've got to loop round, we can't risk them following us back!"

Struggling to keep up, Bofur nearly stumbled as he pushed himself faster to try to keep up with Fili as they ran.

"Shit, I'm open to suggestions," Kili said, nearly tripping as Fili yelled after him again and it took everything he was not to answer.

"Left at the next chance we've got, and then right, if we can just get a couple of blocks, we might be able to take to the roofs," Arwen said, sparing the barest of glances over her shoulder.

"You want us to run on roofs?" he said, glad his lungs needed no air. "Are you--no, alright, that's probably a good idea."

"They can't follow us as easily."  She swore as they rounded the corner, "Damn it, how are they this fast?"

"Training," Kili said easily, grabbing the next wall and using that to propel himself forward around the corner faster. He slammed into an unyielding force, stumbling over backward and falling. Snapping his eyes up, they widened to see a demon, scars along its pale white chest and standing at over seven feet.


	14. That's Gone Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Considering where the last chapter ended do we need to offer any warnings here? Quick reminder: Warnings exist for reasons.

Arwen slid to a stop in the alleyway, freezing before stumbling back a couple of paces as the shadows seemed to come alive with smaller demons. Their claws and teeth visibly sharp, as they emerged around and behind the white giant.  She recovered from her initial reaction enough to take a step toward Kili, freezing again when it drew the attention of the demons.

"Oh god," Kili managed to choke, dark hair in his face and over his too wide eyes as he tried to scramble backwards, arms braced behind his back as the white demon leaned down, grinning to show his teeth.

"A vampire," he rumbled. "Young and freshly dead."

Kili's fingers twitched, sword sheath scraping on the cement beneath him and he wondered if he could get it out in time.

The demon just leered at him, teeth sharp and pointed. "How you struggle as if you have any hope in this world. I am Azog, and the darkness will take you all, half-breeds and mangy humans alike."

"We can still fight you," Kili managed though he looked terrified and the demon had bent almost in half over him so he had no room to stand and nowhere to run.

"With what?" Azog demanded. "Steel swords?"

"If we have to," Arwen finally found her voice, drawing her own sword out and gripping the hilt as Glorfindel had instructed.  It still felt strange in her hands, but it was light enough to swing easily and sharp enough that it would cause irreparable damage--hopefully to a few necks. 

That earned a laugh from a few of the other demons, "The female thinks she has a chance."

Azog laughed, an ugly guttural sound and he reached down, for Kili's throat as there was a roar and Fili threw himself around the corner and promptly launched himself at Azog, side swiping him and sending them both tumbling over. Kili shot up, sword out in moments as Azog grabbed Fili around the throat and tossed him away, Fili only having enough time to brace himself for impact on the wall. It still knocked the breath out of him and he crumple.

Before Azog could turn back to him, Kili was between the demon and his brother, sword swinging and Azog blocked it with the metal claw he had shoved into the skin of one arm where it ended at the elbow.

Bofur rounded the corner moments after Fili, out of breath but already pulling out the knives he was carrying.  Arwen spared him barely a glance as she found herself confronted with the other demons.  Backing against the wall of one of the buildings, she swung out with the sword, it was inexpert, but it was enough to score one of the demons' hand deeply enough that the claws hung useless to it.

"You think I will not kill you both?" Azog laughed and Kili swiveled the sword around, cutting for his neck.

"I'll kill you first," he snarled, Fili trying to catch his breath and push himself up along the wall.

Arwen pushed off the wall, keeping the demons back just out of reach of her sword and reached Bofur, "You'll tire soon on your own, breathe."  With those words she turned fully away from him to face the demons, unable to stop them as they circled around.  Bofur lashed out with his knives, glad they were longer and meant for this sort of fight rather than the shorter one which more closely resembled throwing weapons.

Thorin and Nori rounded the corner, Thorin bringing the cross bow up, shooting one of the demon's facing Arwen through the back and through its heart, causing it to scream and fall over but not die.

Sword sweeping up and quickly down, the demon's head was severed from its body and she glanced toward Thorin, nodding once in acknowledgement as she whirled to block another's claws from reaching her, the black blood of the headless one on the ground staining the jeans she wore.

Thorin dropped the crossbow, drawing the old short sword he had, one that could be hidden beneath his long coat on most nights so long as no one looked too closely, freezing when he finally saw Kili and Azog, Fili behind them.

Azog was laughing as he parried Kili's blows, sweeping at him with the metal hook and the claws he had. "You fight well," he said, several demons starting to form a circle around them, two more turning to Fili. Kili saw a flash of one of them moving out of the corner of his eye, whirling around to server their neck and half of one shoulder as Azog bore down on him from behind and sinking his claws into Kili's side.

Fumbling, Fili got his knives out, one of them falling from the hand that Kili had broken, and he threw the one he still held at Azog's head, hitting his ear and marking him snarl and yank his hand away from Kili and the vampire fell. Fili scooped the other knife up, embedding it in the other demon that was advancing on him and slitting its throat deeply enough that it twitched and fell before he stood over Kili who was still trying to stand.

"A human?" Azog laughed, Fili catching the sword that Kili tossed up at him. "You think a human has the slightest chance where a vampire failed?"

Bofur lashed out at the nearest demons, trying to fight his way over to the two brothers, but finding himself pushed back.  Arwen's glance was drawn briefly away as Bilbo appeared, his eyes wide.  She thought she caught his scent, but it was faint underneath the demons already there.  Ducking under a swipe from a demon and swinging out with her sword, catching the creature through the stomach and sending it stumbling back trying to hold itself together, she took advantage of the gap and darted toward the librarian.

Yanking out her long knife, she shoved the hilt into his hand even as he shied away from, confirming what she had thought, "The hilt is bound in leather, and the cross hilt is silver.  If you're here you need a blade, and all I have is steel."  His wide eyes darted to her face and he nodded, holding the knife inexpertly as she turned, "Stay close."

Nori leapt past where Thorin grappled with a demon, caught by another before he could reach Fili and Kili.

Fili had only grinned at Azog, because even with only one hand he had always been better with a sword than Kili, swinging it at Azog's head and ducking the next moment down with a low blow, landing heavy in Azog's side. Snarling, Azog caught the blade on the next swing, and sent Fili tripping over Kili, knocking them both down from where Kili had gotten to his feet again.

Bofur found himself hard pressed, his knives too short to allow him to reach the creatures without getting in range of their claws.  He ducked under a swipe from one, slitting its throat and turned to face the next, feeling its claws rake across his left arm.

Across the battle, Thorin roared in rage as Kili rolled over, bringing himself up and dragging Fili away just as Azog slammed his metal arm into the cement where Fili had been. Bracing himself on Kili, Fili used the momentum of his rise to jump and kick Azog in the face. As the demon stumbled back it gave them a precious second, Kili tossing the sword up and Fili catching it again, Kili finding the knives that Fili had earlier used.

Fighting back to back, neither especially adept with a blade, Bilbo and Arwen found themselves barely fending off the demons which seemed to appear anew each time one fell.  The vampire let her gaze wander briefly between one demon and the next to assess the battle, blinking once at the fluidity with which Fili and Kili fought together.

Bofur sliced his way past a demon to end up near Nori, still too far to actually fight with his friend, though it gave him a better view of what was happening there.  He could feel himself beginning to flag slightly as he met yet another demon and dodged away from its slashing claws. Nori jumped over a demon, ducking around another and landing with his back against Bofur's. "Any estimates on how many there are?"

Bofur shook his head, stabbing out and cutting across the knuckles of one that had tried to get in too close, "No, but they keep comin'.  There's got to be some end to them somewhere, though."

"The portal wasn't open that long," Nori protested, jumping up on a box and then to the garbage can to look around. "There must be only thirty and we've killed some already. They're bottled up in the alley though!"

Bofur dodged another slash of a demon's claws, bringing the knife in his hand arcing down onto the creature's forearm, "Which means it seems like there's more than there are.  There isn't hardly enough room to move around."

Nori leapt on the back of one of the demons, wrapping himself around them and using the daggers he held to sever its neck. Across the alley, Fili and Kili were coming at Azog from separate sides, working together and distracting him but still failing to do more beyond nick his white flesh.

Narrowly avoiding another swipe of a demon's claws, Bofur slashed out with the knife in his left hand, the strike going slightly awry at the pain that shot up that arm from the bleeding cuts that had been inflicted.  The knife hit home and sliced across the creature's throat cleanly.  He saw motion out of the corner of his eye and turned to face the next demon, spotting Arwen a little further away.  She and Bilbo were still back to back, not changing from that position except to shift forward slightly in one direction or another to fend off the hell-spawn around them.

Behind them, Thorin grappled with a particularly tall demon, one with more arms than any of the others and they kept getting blow Thorin's guard as he was used to only fighting enemies with two arms. He had only managed to get below several of the reaching arms and slam his sword upwards and through the creature’s throat when another demon jumped on his back and he was pulled over backward.

Azog's roar shook the whole alleyway as Fili finally landed a blow, sword sinking into his shoulder. He lifted Fili off the ground with his other arm, tight around his throat. Kili started flaying at him with the knives he held but it barely made Azog take a step back, even though he held all of Fili's weight off the ground.

Bilbo saw Thorin fall and moved before he thought, ducking through a brief gap between the demons, slicing haphazardly at any claws that came near him, hearing a couple of growls as they shied away but also feeling a set of claws rake his side.  Arwen whirled when she felt his heat leave her back, by the time she had, though he was too far away to reach. 

Bofur shouted, trying to make any progress toward Fili, but found his way well and truly blocked by the demons in the alleyway.

Rolling with the demon that had felled him, Thorin managed to kick another advancing in the face, even as other's claws found his exposed back. He embraced the pain, using it to fuel the next punch, distracting the demon long enough to get his sword up and behead the demon, sword jarring against concrete.

He jumped back up, eyes first going to Bilbo who was so near in surprise before snapping over to Fili, whose hands had come up to try and stop Azog from strangling him,  getting his feet under him to brace against the demon's side.

Looking around the alley, Nori disentangled himself from one of the demons, throwing a corpse at his face before jumping back on the dumpster and leaping from there at Azog's back, timing it with another of Kili's blows so their combined force threw Azog to the side and he dropped Fili. Falling, Fili's head hit the cement and he almost blacked out between the pain and gasping for air.

Slitting the throat of the demon in front of him, Bofur finally reached Fili's side, turning to face the demons and stand between them and the younger hunter. 

Bilbo ducked under another demon's arm, flailing out with his sword and cutting across its arm, nearly severing the limb by sheer accident.  Coming up out of that motion he locked eyes with Thorin briefly before turning back to try and avoid the demon again, the knife stabbing out once more.

Thorin bolted upward, diving at the demon that was facing Bilbo, decapitating it easily and turning in time to see Fili grab Bofur's arm and try to shove him backward as Azog threw Kili up in the air and he came down hard on the dumpster as Azog turned and punched his metal arm into Nori's stomach, twisting the metal viciously.

Bofur had stumbled back with Fili's yank on his arm, freezing in horror, "Nori!"  His hands closed tighter around the hilts of his knives and he tensed.

Thorin was running even before Nori fell to the ground, jumping over one of the demons, and slamming into Azog. The demon shook at the impact. "I'll just kill you too," he said and Thorin punched him in the face before bringing his sword to bear, chopping at the same wound Fili had already made and Azog roared.

Kili coughed as he tried to push himself up from where he had fallen on his stomach on the dumpster, a demon grabbing him and dragging him down before he got his orientation back.

Arwen slammed her sword home through the throat of one of the lesser demons, using the creature's backward momentum to propel herself forward toward the dumpster to aid Kili.  Leaping forward, Bilbo found himself cut off from Thorin and Azog by one of the other demons and his gaze darted past it briefly before he slashed out almost blindly at it.

Thorin ducked down, scooping up Fili's fallen sword and using both, kicking Azog and ignoring the scrape of metal along his side, cutting open his skin and the shirt he wore. He used the space that created to shove forward, swinging one of the swords around and catching Azog in the neck. When the demon started to fall, Thorin slammed the other sword down, severing the head entirely.

The other demons, on seeing Azog's head fall, scattered, fleeing as quickly as they were able, more than one leaving a trail of black blood behind.

Kili pushed himself up, taking only a moment to confirm Fili was breathing, their eyes meeting before he grabbed Arwen's arm and dragged her with them as they ran.

Bofur stumbled forward, dropping to his knees next to Nori, his hands shaking.  Bilbo looked around at the decimation, his hand pressed hard to his side.  He swallowed hard when he saw Nori lying there, "And that's just the beginning."

Fili tried to reach Bofur and tripped instead, hitting Bofur's back. "Is he alive?" he tried to ask past the bruising already on his neck as Thorin reared backward, still holding both swords before staggering over.

Bofur's fingers were pressed against Nori's throat desperately trying to find a pulse, "I, I don't, I don't think...I can't find a pulse.  Damn it, Nori, it's not supposed to end like this!"

Nori shifted but his pulse was thready and weak. Thorin looked at Bilbo before looking down. "He's alive," he said. "We need to get him to a hospital," he added, and Nori barely managed to reach a hand out and grab Thorin's jeans.

"No," he rasped and coughed, blood on his mouth. "Home. There's not time."

"We can't save you there," Thorin said and Nori almost laughed.

"They can't either."

Bofur felt his voice catch and he nodded, "Then, then we'll get you home."

Fili gestured for the swords, which Thorin gave him and he reached down with Bofur's help to lift Nori. Thorin glanced once at Bilbo before hefting Nori up and trying to ignore his moan.

Bilbo took a step forward, sliding the long knife through his belt careful to avoid the blade on it, "Is there...Thorin, how can I help?"

"We need to get home," Thorin rasped and trying to follow them Fili swayed, almost dropping both the swords and falling.

Bilbo moved quickly, catching Fili and draping the other's arm around his shoulders, "I got you."

"Wait," Fili said, and gestured to the alleyway full of blood and slain demons. He guided Bilbo with him until he could pick up Azog's head. "To learn more," he said before nodding at the smaller man to follow the others.

-0-

Arwen slammed the door to the vampires' mansion open, still snarling over her shoulder at Kili as she strode through into the foyer, "If you weren't so damnably focused on his voice we would be a fair sight better off tonight!"

"Shut up," Kili ground out, limping in behind her and bracing himself against the wall to try and dig the bolt that had gone into his leg and broken off.

Arwen shoved the door shut, satisfied with the bang it made as it hit the doorframe.  She turned to glare at Kili, "We shouldn't have even been there!"

His eyes flashed up before he bit his tongue and bent back down, wincing when he finally found the bolt and yanked it out, tossing the bloody thing away on the floor. "Would you rather we run into the demons on our own?" he snarled. "Or leave them to find other prey? They were out hunting!"

"No," she snapped in reply, running a hand over her hair and shaking it quickly when it came away with black blood on it.  "But damn it that was--" she broke off, growling.

"I won't apologize for it," he snapped, mouth a thin line and eyes burning.

"I don't want you to," Arwen snarled.  "If it hadn't been all of us we wouldn't be standing!  That doesn't mean I'm happy about it!"  She heard a sound on the stairs and whirled, coming face to face with her brothers, "And you two can rot!"

Elladan froze, having been surprised to hear their voices as they were only preparing to head out for the night. "You--" he started, taking in the torn clothing and black blood and the bolt halfway across the large foyer. "What did you do?"

Elrohir rocked back on his heels as Arwen advanced on them, her voice rising in pitch, "The commander demon's dead.  Guess who killed him.  Go on, guess.  I'll give you a hint--he's still got a beating heart and has been well trained in ways of killing _us_."

"I'll be taking one of the hunters then," Elladan said, perhaps too flippant in the face of her fury.

"Thorin," she snarled in response.  "And he wasn't the only one there. I'm done, you all can sort out going hunting together on your own and if any of you bastards even thinks about adding me in again..."

Elladan's eyes darted to Kili and back to Arwen. "Who else was there?"

Her eyes narrowed, "Fili, two other hunters, and the librarian I think?" 

"Where was this?" Elrond's voice swept across the entryway from where he was on the stairs.

Arwen darted a glance toward him, her tone sharpening still, "Where Kili and I encountered the demons, because these two geniuses decided it was a good idea to have Kili and I paired up for hunts."

Kili's dark eyes darted over to the twins. "Is that such the bad way of it?" Elladan asked after a beat.

"I'll take Legolas' _dates_ over this!" she snapped in reply.

Elrohir glanced toward Kili, "This is not what you were saying yesterday."

"Yesterday I hadn't been in a confined battle alongside the hunters unexpectedly because of a recognized voice!"

"Would you _stop_!" Kili yelled. "This wasn't my fault. The place they were and the place we were--we were like to run into them one way or another."

She whirled on him, "You know what, you're right.  Tonight wasn't your fault, but you've still been following him!"

"Arwen!"  Elrohir startled forward at that.

"No, I'm sick of this.  I'm sick of lying for any and all of you."

"If it's a lie, it's not a very good one," Kili said though his voice had gone cold. "Is there really anyone in this house who has not realized where I go?"

"Ask the twins, they're the ones who thought you needed a babysitter," she spat out.

"Of course they do," Kili said, Thranduil at the top of the stairs and leaning lazily against the railing as he listened.

Galadriel and Erestor swept into the room, deep in conversation and clearly heading to the library when they both stopped. "What has happened?" Galadriel demanded, voice clear and loud in the high and open space.

Arwen stared Kili down for another moment before turning to face her grandsire, her muscled quivering as she kept herself as still as she could, "Kili and I encountered the demons, after encountering the hunters.  The commander's dead.  Thorin beheaded him."

"Casualties?" Celeborn asked, Glorfindel a step behind him.

Kili's eyes dropped. "Possibly one of the hunters," he said. "I--I don't think he could have survived that but I thought he was still alive."

"Then let us hope for the sake of their pain that he was," Celeborn said after a moment's pause. "Demons?"

"A few escaped, retreating when their leader fell," Arwen answered, her voice calming, though there was a faint tremor in it.

“Many more were killed," Kili said, voice still level.

"We should go," Erestor said, looking at Glorfindel. "To remove the bodies at the least." He paused, bending down to pick up the bolt that was on the floor. "This is one of the hunters," he said and looked at Kili, seeing the blood on his pants and the tear.

"I said we encountered them first," Arwen said, her gaze moving to Erestor as Glorfindel slipped over.

"Who?" Erestor asked.

"That does not--" Kili started and quailed under Erestor's dark gaze. "Thorin."

"That seems odd behavior if he is truly considering an alliance," Erestor remarked, sounding bored.

Arwen darted a glance at Kili, as much to ask if he really thought everyone knew exactly where he had been going, "He's protective of his surviving nephew who was there."

Kili's hands balled into fists at his side and he forced them to relax. "It's personal too," he said. "Because it was me."

Celeborn looked between them, one of his pale eyebrows rising, "So because your brother in life was there and because it was you he shot you?"

 "Well, he was also startled," Kili said, looking down and taking a step back.

"So it was a stray shot?"  Celeborn fixed them both with a long look.

Arwen shifted slightly, "Kili's still among us, so I would say that the fact that Thorin was startled contributed to him missing in the first place."

"It's instinct to shoot first," Kili said, watching Erestor who had first called his uncle's motives into question. Erestor looked back, impassive. "I do not think he did it meaningfully, or fully aware." He paused and took a deep breath. "And I think he would wish to kill me of all of you."

"Explain specifically what you mean," Celeborn instructed, still watching Kili.

"I was his nephew," Kili said. "He must hate me. He would have less reason to hate any of you." Above them, Thranduil's hands tightened on the banister.

Celeborn hummed at that, not giving away whether he agreed or disagreed with that sentiment, "I see."  He glanced between Kili and Arwen, "You both should go get cleaned up."

Kili watched him with a frown before he stiffly turned and walked up the stairs, only noticing Thranduil at the landing where he meant to turn off. Ducking his head back down he stormed down the hallway.

Celeborn watched him go quietly, sparing a glance as Arwen slept up to change and wash the blood from her.  Legolas stepped out of Kili's way, where he was arriving late to the foyer, his eyebrows shot up and he hesitated, considering whether to go after the other of Thranduil's childer.

"We should go," Erestor said, turning the bolt around his hand. "Before the humans find the corpses and make assumptions." He tilted his head up, seeing both Legolas and Thranduil and arching his graceful brows at both of them.

Glorfindel looked up the stairs and then nodded, "Yes, come on we should see to that."

Legolas stopped next to Thranduil, looking at his sire, "What happened to Kili?" he asked as Glorfindel and Erestor left.

“Demons," Thranduil said, voice calm. "And his uncle. Former, uncle, I suppose."

"They're still his family," Legolas said after a moment, hand resting on the banister.  "Whether all of them are willing to acknowledge that.  It matters what he thinks."

"Well, if you want to know more, you'll have to ask him," Thranduil said, lifting his chin and turning away to sweep down the hall.

"You could try to unmelt once a century," Legolas called after him, but turned to go check on Kili before he second guessed that decision. Thranduil paused, head tilting backward, a barely perceptible motion. His lips curled back before he continued on. Only someone paying close attention would have noticed the pause at all.

Legolas hesitated for a long moment outside the door he had traced Kili to before finally he decided that he had come that far and there was no point in turning back now.  He knocked, listening for any response.

"What do you want?" Kili snarled, not caring who was on the other side.

"To see how you're holding together," Legolas answered, having a guess on how that would be received.

There was a wordless snarl, and the door yanked open, Kili almost undressed. Demon blood had run down under his clothing and his own blood covered much of his bare skin from scrapes and other wounds.

Legolas looked him over, "You'll never get that all off on your own without a mirror.  Let me give a hand?"

"I was going to take a shower," Kili said, quirking a brow up.

That earned a wry smile, "Right, that would be the logical thing to do."

"You really did come to age in the Victorian era didn't you?" Kili remarked, turning back around and heading for the bathroom.

"I did," he said, moving to lean against the wall outside the bathroom.  "Poorer side of it too."

Kili hummed, starting the water and stripping out of what little clothing remained. "So that would mean dragging water from the well and heating it over the fire place, yeah?"

"That's right.  It was rather a lot of effort for a full bath," Legolas said, letting his eyes close.

Kili hummed. "So what do you want?"

"I really was coming to check on you.  Thranduil said that your uncle was there tonight."

Kili froze from where he was letting the water fall over him, waiting for most of the gore to wash off before he reached for the soap. "Funny. You doing a thing like that."

"We'd said something about trying again, didn't we?  I'm not good at it at all, but I thought it might be a good idea to check on you in the interest of trying to get along at least," Legolas explained, wincing slightly as he realized how inept that sounded.

Kili poked his head out of the shower, blinking. "Wow," he said. "I should have realized exactly how handicapped you are when it comes to talking. I would have been prepared to give you accommodations for your disability."

Legolas snorted, "I'm trying to decide whether to laugh or strangle you for that courtesy.  I'm not used to being the elder childe."

Kili's laugh was forced as he went back into the shower. "Well I'm used to--" he cut off abruptly and had to brace his hands against the wall as he suddenly started shaking.

The other vampire fell silent for a long moment, "I'm sorry."

“For what?" Kili demanded, verging toward vicious again.

"Nothing apparently," his jaw tensed slightly.

For a moment Kili wanted to strangle the other vampire except once he had thought it, all he could see was Fili choking. "No," he said, voice not quite level. "You do not get to take back apologies."

Legolas paused for a long moment, fixing his gaze on the wall opposite, "I'm sorry you got dragged into this life and away from the one you had before.  I've said that before, and I mean it as much now as I did then."

Kili started scrubbing furiously at his hair, rather than start crying. "I suppose it's not a bad sentiment to have."

"It doesn't do a whole lot of good, though," Legolas said, only just loud enough to be heard over the running water.

Considering he didn't have to breath, an odd sound came out of Kili's lungs. "You're going to have difficulty with Gimli after this," he said, unable to bear thinking about his own pain any longer.

"I was having difficulty with Gimli already," Legolas said, pausing.  "Why after this specifically?"

"If the hunters had ever been inclined to not travel in packs, it is gone now," Kili said. "And I do not know where an alliance would stand."

The blond vampire leaned harder against the wall, "I'm not ready to give up.  It's just going to take figuring that out.  Even if it requires waiting--which I will be the first to admit is not something I do well."

"You're immortal," Kili said. "I thought that would make the waiting easier."

"Not when the other being is mortal," Legolas admitted quietly.  "And immortal or not, patience has never been my greatest virtue."

Kili dropped the soap, the crashing too loud for his ears. Legolas startled at that, darting a glance in that direction, "You alright there?"

"No," Kili said, bending down before deciding he was clean enough and stumbling out of the shower, groping for a towel.

Legolas paused, considering that answer, "Is there, is there anything I can do for you?"

Kili glared at him. "Is there anything you could possibly think of?"

Blue eyes narrowing, Legolas bit back a growl in response, "I can't reverse anything that's happened, so no, nothing I can possibly think of."

Before he could snark anything else, Kili caught sight of where Thorin had shot him and sat down hard.

Legolas frowned very slightly at that before he caught sight of the wound.  He wet his lips, his voice uncertain when he spoke, "He shot you?"

"Which he?" Kili asked, dark eyes looking up, hands moving to cover where the bolt had entered his leg, though it had long since stopped bleeding. That was one perk of being a vampire he decided, vaguely hysterical in his own mind. "There were three, which were you assuming?"

"Your uncle," Legolas murmured, having discarded Kili's brother as an option before he had even asked.

"Well he also managed to behead the demon commander," Kili said. "So he was certainly on a roll tonight."

The blond hesitated, shaking his head slightly, "Apparently."

"Do you know what Fili did?" Kili asked, voice strained and he stared dragging the towel over his hair, sending the dark strands out wildly.

"No," Legolas said, having the feeling he would find out and it was something that Kili apparently needed to vent.

"He threw himself on the commander," Kili said. "Stupid idiot--not just any demon, the commander. With no weapon drawn."

The other vampire stared at him, "That...he did what?"

"I broke his hand the last time," Kili said, voice rising toward the end. "He can't fight with it anymore--even though he carried enough knives for it, he fought with only one hand. He could have died ten times over and yet kept trying to protect _me_ when I'm stronger and faster than he is now."

Legolas slid down the wall, sitting down hard and looking like he couldn't understand that sentiment, "You're still you to him.  At least, at least that's what it sounds like.  It doesn't matter that you're stronger and faster, it matters that he's always done that, I think."

"He could have died," Kili said, vicious and angry at his brother before he stilled and repeated the words again, more softly and terrified. Finally he looked over at Legolas. "Why would he fight to protect me when I hurt him so bad the last time?"

"I," Legolas stalled briefly as he tried to find the right words that wouldn't sound hollow, but the ones that came to mind felt foreign on his tongue, "Because it doesn't matter to him.  He still loves you, still thinks of you as his brother."  The idea of any family that loved and cared and remained loyal like that hurt and he nearly got up and left.

"He's an idiot," Kili said, despairing. "I just want to keep him safe."

Drawing his right knee up to his chest and resting his forearm on it, Legolas considered that for a long moment, "Is that why you've followed him?"

"That paints me as a much more noble person than I am," Kili said, looking over at him. "It was because I couldn't let go."

"I was giving you the benefit of the doubt," he paused.  "It would seem he's not ready to let go either. Though I'm not saying that's necessarily good for either of you."

Kili bit off a bitter laugh. "Well. I'm not sure anyone could say we ever came from a healthy family life."

Legolas offered him a wry smile, "Maybe not, but it seems like a loyal one."

"Yeah," Kili agreed. "I guess they are that." He wrapped the towel around his waist and looked back at Legolas. "You don't look that great either."

Legolas blinked at that, "What do you mean?"

"Never mind then," Kili shrugged, moving out of the bathroom finally.

Legolas pushed himself to his feet and made to leave, "I'll leave you to it."

"You're going to be careful though, right?" Kili asked, looking over his shoulder at him again.

The blond vampire paused, blinking at him for a long moment, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're dating Gimli," Kili said. "That's inherently uncareful."

"I'll be as careful as I can be, in that case," Legolas said, considering Kili. "I'm, honestly I'm surprised you're asking."

"This is why you're socially awkward," Kili sighed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean it's odd for you to check that I'm being careful, that's all," Legolas said, ignoring the comment about his social aptitude.

"Too many careless people around," Kili shot back.

Legolas fell briefly still at that before nodding, "Well, if that's the case, I hope you're being careful too."

"Yeah," Kili said and didn't meet his eyes. Pausing for another long moment, Legolas finally shook his head and slipped out of the room.

-0-

Fili slammed the door open, Thorin and Bofur carrying Nori, who was somehow still conscious though obviously weak and fighting down cries when they moved too fast. Trying to call for Oin, Fili's throat seized up so Thorin roared for the healer instead. "Ori! Dori!" he added, shoving a stack of books and dishes off the table so they could lay Nori somewhere. He didn't even wince as the dishes broke.

Dori appeared from another part of the house, freezing for a moment when he caught sight of Nori before pushing Bofur aside and reaching his younger brother's side.  His eyes were wide and his voice tense in his attempt to keep it steady as he took in the injuries, "Nori, you idiot what have you gone and done now?"

"It's not like I started the fight," Nori said, the joke weak and Fili winced.

"Demons," Thorin said instead, looking over as Ori entered the room, tea cup shattering on the ground and joining the rest of the dishes.

Dori spared barely a glance to Thorin at that, his focus narrowing in on Nori again, "And they brought you here rather than the hospital?"  There was a note in his voice that indicated he knew exactly what that meant, even as Oin reached the room.  The medic looked around the room and moved over to Nori's side opposite Dori, already able to see he wouldn't be able to do anything.

"You should be in the hospital," Ori said, moving over and Nori fumbled over to grip his hand, even as Ori reached forward to try and lift the shirt he wore. "Nori--"

"Little brother," he rasped and Ori fell silent.

Dori looked over at Oin, silently begging to be told that he was mistaken at a first glance.  The medic met his cousin's eyes and shook his head, speaking, "Nori, I can give you something for the pain.  Do you want that?"

"Not yet," Nori said but his hand was shaking where Ori held it. "Wanna focus still."

Oin nodded and retreated slightly to give the brothers more room.  Dori glanced toward his youngest brother before taking Nori's other hand, "You can't do this, Nori."

"Can't do what?" Nori asked, trying to look over at him, and coughing, blood in his mouth. "Little late."

Dori reached up and brushed drops of blood from the corner of Nori's mouth, his voice finally catching, "Damnit, Nori. We're not, you..."

"Old boy," Nori said, shaking his head. "Don't start crying or I'll never let you live it down."

"But--" Ori started, the word dropping off.

Dori offered Nori a weak smile, "I'm going to hold you to that, you understand me?"

"Yeah," Nori said, shuddering. "Still a hideous coat." He flopped his head over, Ori's eyes huge in his face and tremors ran through his body.

"Nori," he said again, voice not quite breaking.

"Hey little one," he said and tried to smile, trying to squeeze Ori's hand and not having the strength for it. "There were so many things I needed to tell you."

Ori's eyes darted up to Dori and down again. "I thought you were going to keep giving Dori hell. You can tell me then, can't you?"

"Ori," Nori said and coughed again, dragging Ori closer so he could whisper to him, advice and t he endearments he'd always wanted to say.

Dori twined his fingers around Nori's, biting his lip hard as he watched his younger brothers and would swear he could feel Nori fading. After a while Ori started crying and could no longer stop, though he muffled the sounds in one knitted mitten, straining to hear everything Nori said. Eventually he closed his eyes, though his chest still moved with painful sounds.

Dori clenched his teeth against the sob he felt catch in his own throat, tears stinging his eyes before spilling over.  He hesitated, reaching his free hand out to rest on Ori's shoulder.

"He's going to wake up right?" Ori said, not looking at his brother and counting breaths before he realized it.

"Ori," Dori's voice broke on the single syllable and he snapped his mouth shut again.

"But he's going to--" Ori said and Nori's chest stopped moving. Ori's eyes dropped and he froze.

Dori released Nori's hand, laying it carefully down before he checked for a pulse, "Ori, he's...he's gone."

"He can't be!" Ori protested, "There's no way he can be." Dwalin stepped forward from where he had been standing in the doorway, Thorin's original cries having brought most of the others coming to stand witness. He caught Ori from behind just as he went wild, screaming and kicking at Dwalin's shins.

Dori stumbled back from the table, his hand over his mouth as he shuddered, his eyes moving from Ori to where Nori lay far too still.

Thorin stepped forward, motions stiff and pained and threw a blanket over Nori on the table. He started a low song, an old one his grandfather had taught him to mourn the dead. Bilbo leaned against the wall, silently watching as Dis stepped next to her son, her voice joining her brother's on the second line of the song.

Fili looked down, not joining in the song. By the end of it, Ori had stopped fighting, collapsing back against Dwalin and hiding his face behind his gloves. As the last note faded, Dori moved to circle the table and approach Ori, hesitating a couple of paces away and looking completely lost as to what to do for him.

Dwalin shifted him around so he could deposit Ori against Dori, letting him curl up against his older brother's shoulder and quietly cry, Fili looking at him like he was almost jealous at how easy his tears came.

Dori held Ori close, running his hand over his brother's hair, but staying silent, knowing there wasn't anything he could say.  Bofur hesitated before stepping up next to Fili, his eyes red from his own tears and fixed on the form under the blanket.

Taking a step back, Thorin staggered and winced at the pain when he pulled his back, dried blood and demon gore having hidden many of his wounds. Whereas Fili had sat, each breath hurting him, Thorin had stubbornly remained standing. Bilbo reached Thorin before Oin did, pulling a chair over, murmuring as he ignored the scratches that were in his own side, "Perhaps you ought to sit down."

"I am," Thorin started and stopped before he said he was fine and carefully sat, a pained sound escaping him before he could repress it.

Oin came to Thorin's side, pausing, "I'll need to treat the rest of you.  Where are you worst injured?" Dis' eyes snapped in that direction and she moved over with a last touch to her son's shoulder to reassure herself of his presence.

"You should see to Fili," Thorin rasped, remembering the way he had been thrown about and the bruises were already livid on throat beneath black demon blood.

"You're bleeding more than I am," Fili replied, with much less force than he had intended.

Oin glanced toward Fili and then at Dis, "Check your son for a concussion."  He turned back to Thorin as Dis returned to Fili's side, "I'll see to him in a moment.  Where are you worst injured?"

"His back and side," Bilbo answered before Thorin could.

Thorin looked up at him with narrowed eyes before he nodded and Dwalin started ushering the rest of the family out, Gimli straining to see and hear what was happening but most of them leaving willingly enough, Bombur stopping by Bofur.

"Are you badly hurt too?"

Bofur shook his head, though he was cradling his left arm, "Mostly bruises.  It's just my arm otherwise."

Bombur nodded, reassured but left after squeezing his hand, Bifur hugging him as lightly as he could on the way out.

Bofur watched them go before turning back to where Dis was checking her son over.  Her hand resting against Fili's cheek, Dis checked his eyes and shook her head, "You're definitely showing signs of a concussion. How is your head?  Do you feel nauseous?"

"Yes," Fili said. "And it hurts--I got thrown against cement."

"Where else are you hurt?" she asked.

He gestured to his throat where Azog's fingers had held on and down to his ribs. There were scratches and claw marks but none that went as deep as the ones on Thorin's back or side. "What happened?" Dwalin asked and paused, picking up Azog's head from where Fili had dropped it and staring in shock.

"Demons in an alleyway.  Not quite sure as to the number of them, but there were enough to, to do all this," Bofur said, his eyes moving to Azog's head and he swallowed.

"Thirty," Thorin grunted. "In estimate."

"You lot faced down thirty demons?" Dis gaped at her brother.

"There were two vampires there fighting against them as well," Bilbo murmured.

Thorin and Fili both tensed, making Fili’s breath stutter out and he forced himself to keep breathing through the pain. Dis' eyes moved from her son to her brother and back, "Did you know who they were?"

They were both silent a long moment. "One was a girl," Thorin said. "Pale skinned and dark haired. I did not recognize her."

"The other was Kili," Fili said and Thorin's head turned to stare at me. "You're angry, aren't you?" Fili almost spat the words out and Thorin's eyes narrowed, looking like he wanted to rise and shake Fili except that Oin's hands were spilling antiseptic on the claw marks.

Drawing a deep breath, Dis set a calming hand on her son's shoulder, "It doesn't matter.  What matters is you're both here, alive."  She carefully didn't look toward where Nori lay.

"You would not say that," Thorin said, voice dark and angry and Fili did not look at him. "If you had seen him throw himself upon a seven foot demon with no weapon at hand."

Dis' hand tightened ever so slightly on Fili's shoulder, her voice sharp, "It will matter more to me in the morning I'm sure.  Right now, what matters is that you are both here and breathing, Thorin."

"You're the one who shot him," Fili muttered and Thorin took a deep breath, hands balling into fists. "That's not a very effective way to start an alliance."

Dis raked a hand through her thick hair, her voice lashing out, "Enough!  Both of you."

They both stared at her, and Fili looked away first.

"No, shooting him was not a good step toward diplomacy.  And yes hurling himself on a demon was reckless and stupid, but goddamn it both of you.  For once stop snarling," Dis snapped, knowing she was as guilty of it as they were on a regular basis, but it was too raw against her nerves knowing how close she'd come to losing them all yet again.

They both were silent several moments longer, Thorin hissing in pain as Oin finally managed to get his shirt all the way off to actually take a look at the claw marks. It had been stuck to his skin and wounds.

"I'm sorry, mother," Fili said finally, watching his uncle.

Dwalin set the head down and took a deep breath. He had stood carefully still while they had fought. "But the vampires were willing to fight with us," he said, more a statement then a question and Thorin nodded.

Dis drew a calming breath, running a hand over Fili's hair before she caught herself, looking toward Dwalin and then to her brother, "Which considering what's happened tonight is something that is good to know."  She glanced toward Bilbo looking him over for a moment, "If it's going to get worse as you say."

"It is," he said, the full weight of that truth behind his words.

Thorin looked over at him, needing something to focus on that wasn't Oin. "Do you know anything more?"

"Not really beyond what I've told you before.  I've done some more research into past hell portals, and there will likely be some sort of acceleration."  He paused, trying to figure out how to explain it, "A few small portals before the big one finally opens.  This was the first one.  There's not really any way to know exactly what will come through each time, beyond the last one."

"Why?" Thorin asked. "Why would smaller ones open?"

"It's, from what I've found it's an energy build up.  Each smaller portal increases the energy that will be available to the larger one.  Or, no that's not quite it either.  It's more like, the more smaller portals are opened the weaker the space between so that it takes less energy for the large portal to open," Bilbo explained before reaching for a chair and pulling it over to sink down in it.

Thorin nodded. "If we can close down the smaller portals quicker next time--"

"Which means we would need to know how," Dwalin said, watching Oin thread needle to start stitching up Thorin's back. He paused, not having realized how deeply the marks went when Thorin had first indicated the wounds.

Dis looked down, considering, "The vampires were able to close the last one.  But it opened too early for them to reach it as it opened.  I don't know that I've seen anything about closing of hell portals in our lore.  Oin?"

He shook his head as he focused on his work, "Nae, I've never seen or heard anything about it."

Ori stopped in the doorway, from where he had been pulled out earlier by Dori. "I want tea," he said, voice hoarse and Dwalin almost leapt over to keep Ori from walking past the table.

"Here, lad," he said, handing him ice from the freezer instead and gesturing to Fili. "I can make the tea." Ori nodded, handing the ice to Bofur and sitting down so that Fili was between him and the table.

Bofur accepted the ice with a muted thanks before setting it against a particularly nasty area of bruising the Fili had sustained. Fili hissed, leaning forward and Ori automatically rested a hand on his knee. They both listened silently as Thorin tried not repress his sounds of pain until all the marks were stitched up.

Oin knotted off the last of the stitches and carefully bandaged over them before leaning back and offering Thorin painkillers, "Fili, I'll see to you next, and then you Bofur."

"Bilbo," Thorin added, remember seeing him fight with a vampire and while part of him recoiled from that image he could not deny that he at least understood some warfare, and had fought with them. "He must be looked to as well."

"I'm--" Bilbo nearly choked on the words, amazed he had gotten that far into the lie, "That would be appreciated, but I could have it seen to somewhere else if need be."

Oin looked toward him, "I'll see to you as well."

"You fought for us," Thorin said and leaned his elbows against the back of the chair he straddled, resting his head on them even though it strained the new stitches and focused on breathing.

Bilbo shrugged the shoulder on his uninjured side, "I couldn't very well do otherwise."

"You could have run," Thorin said, lifting his head only enough so his dark eyes could look at Bilbo.

"That probably would have been the smarter course of action.  It's not as though I know much about fighting, and I certainly didn't have a weapon on me," though he could feel the vampiress' knife at his side and was desperately grateful of the fabric between him and it.

"That only makes what you did more remarkable," Thorin rumbled, still watching him.

"I've never been known for my intelligence," Bilbo said, shifting slightly under Thorin's gaze and beginning to feel flustered.  "But really, remarkable's far too large a word for it."

"No," Thorin said as Fili shifted and winced under Oin's ministrations. "Remarkable is the only word for it."

"If you say so," Bilbo glanced away to carefully remove the knife from his belt, hating the feel of it so close to him.  He set it down, pretty certain he would not have the opportunity to return it to its rightful owner.

Thorin watched the movement, eyes still dark. Bilbo looked back up, hesitating, "Yes?"

"You do not like to even carry a sword," Thorin said. "And yet you were willing to fight."

"I couldn't let you all fight and die without at least trying to help," he said quietly, looking toward the table and swallowing.  "It's not as though it did much good."

"It did some good," Thorin said, remembering Bilbo trying to fight toward him.

Bilbo's lips twitched at that and he shrugged very slightly as Oin turned his attention from Fili's scratches and scrapes to the broken rib he had discovered during his initial examination.  "Perhaps," Bilbo brushed at his clothes where the demon blood had stained them.

Fili's sound of pain was sharp and Thorin's attention moved over. "What is it?" he asked.

Oin looked up briefly before returning to his work, "He's got a broken rib here, and from the looks of it, probably another cracked one as well." Fili snarled a strangled curse at that, thinking of how long the bones in his hand had taken to heal.

"Not much to be done but to wrap it up to brace it and make sure you take painkillers," Oin said, looking at Fili as he started wrapping the younger man's torso over the fractured ribs.

Fili nodded. "Whatever I need to do," he said and Dwalin lifted Ori from where he had been sitting near Fili, handing him a cup of tea and leading him from the room, Ori looking over his shoulder at the table once more.

"The painkillers will help ease how much it hurts to breathe," Oin said.  "I'm going to recommend a lower dose tonight because of that concussion, we don't want them contributing to the depth of your sleep.  You also shouldn't be alone tonight, because of that concussion."

Fili finally looked at Bofur like one of the demons had managed to stab him, remembering their earlier fumbled conversation with something like hysteria. "Alright," he managed to say, mostly level.

Bofur shifted slightly at that look, glancing away after a moment.  Oin glanced between them, but didn't say anything as he finished with Fili's ribs, "Alright, Bofur, let me see that arm of yours."

Swallowing hard, Fili pushed himself to his feet, checking to see what his ribs felt like before sitting back down and watching Bofur. Across the kitchen, Thorin had not looked away from Bilbo for more than a few moments to check on Fili.

Bofur hissed a breath through his teeth as Oin set about cleaning the deep scratches on his arm, startling Bilbo slightly from where the other had been half-avoiding Thorin's scrutiny. Bilbo winced as that jarred his side and he took advantage of that to look at his injury rather than at Thorin.  He had no idea what to do with the other, and was uncertain how he felt about being studied.

Thorin twitched before he rose and moved over. "Are you alright?" he asked, hand hovering nearby and knowing for his own sake he should not have moved and allowed Oin to be the first to approach Bilbo.

BIlbo startled slightly at that, looking up at him, "You shouldn't be standing yet."

"Are you alright?" Thorin repeated than comment on his own stupidity.

"I've got some scratches on my side, and muscles I didn't realize could ache currently do.  But I am mostly alright," Bilbo answered after a moment.

Thorin nodded, hands resolutely at his sides. "You are not used to these things."

Bilbo shook his head very slightly, "No, no I'm not used to these things at all."

"If you need training--" Thorin started to offer.

The librarian paused, trying to figure out if there was a way to go through that training without coming into contact with iron or steel, "I... I would have to think on that."

Thorin nodded, feeling like he had opened himself to something he was unsure of.

"I appreciate the offer," Bilbo murmured, watching Thorin carefully.

Thorin nodded. "If you need it."

"It certainly wouldn't go amiss," he admitted.  Dis glanced over, her eyebrows rising slightly as she considered her brother and the librarian.

When Oin finished with Bofur, Fili looked at him for a long moment before murmuring a good night to his mother and Thorin, inclining his head to Bilbo and checking Ori and Dwalin in the living room before heading up the stairs, every step a new stab of pain. Bofur hesitated for a long moment, looking at Nori's covered body before slipping out of the room and following Fili upstairs as Oin moved over to treat Bilbo's wounds.

Thorin forced himself to step back again, sinking down on the same chair and folding his arms across the back. Bilbo flinched away from Oin's touch before forcing himself to keep still, focusing on Thorin for a moment before deciding that was a bad idea.

For his part, Thorin looked restless, wanting to be doing something but unable with the injuries he had.

"I should, I should head home after this," Bilbo said quietly, wincing as Oin cleaned the cuts.

"Home?" Thorin asked. "Is there something you need to do?"

"Sleep?" Bilbo offered.

"We've room here," Dis called over her shoulder on her way out of the room, offering her brother a look to indicate that she was not going to leave this situation unremarked later.

Thorin ignored the look easily, focusing on Bilbo. "It was dangerous earlier tonight to be out on your own. Now it would be insane. You may sleep here tonight and we will walk you home tomorrow. I would risk no one tonight."

Bilbo hesitated at that and then nodded, "I appreciate that. It's, it's not necessary to be walked home after day break I'm sure."

"Demons are not like vampires," Thorin said. "Gloin, or Dwalin could do it."

"If you're sure, though I don't really know either of them," Bilbo agreed after a moment.

"I trust them," Thorin said. "I suppose that might not yet be something you trust in."

"I, I would say that's enough," Bilbo said.

"Really?" Thorin asked, raising his brows. He sounded oddly and pathetically hopeful.

Bilbo paused before nodding, "Yes."

"Thank you," Thorin said, inclining his head and watching Oin.

Oin fastened the bandages on Bilbo's side, noticing the way Bilbo tensed ever so slightly at the thanks, and pushed himself to his feet, "Well, that's that then.  Get some rest, the both of you."

Thorin nodded, pushing himself to his feet. "Come then, Mr. Baggins. I can show you to a room."

Bilbo rose carefully, favoring his side and offering Thorin a ghost of a smile, "Lead the way then, sir."  He glanced around the house as they made their way to the stairs, "It's rather a large place."

 “It's been in my family for a number of generations," Thorin said, hesitating for a moment before the room that for so long had been Fili and Kili's and now stood empty. Shifting his shoulders, he kept going down the hallway. "And there are rather a lot of us."

"You all live in the house here, then?"  Bilbo asked, considering the doors along the hall.

"Yes," he nodded. "I’m not sure why always," he admitted, almost so quietly it was more to himself as he pushed open the door to a guest bed room. "Though I suppose the world is dangerous and we feel safer together. Dori, N--" he stopped. "Dori and Ori have the cottage out back."

Bilbo paused at that, looking at Thorin for a long moment, "I wish I could do more than offer condolences for yet another loss your family has to sustain."

"There isn't anything more you could do," Thorin said, looking away.

"I," he sighed and dropped his gaze, "No, I suppose there isn't."

"You are very kind," Thorin said, and his hand reached out to touch Bilbo's cheek. "And brave," he added before realizing what he was doing and startling slightly, the white bandages standing out against his darker skin.

Bilbo's eyes rose to meet Thorin's, wide and startled at the touch.  He reached up to touch the back of Thorin's hand lightly and he swallowed very slightly, "I'm just me.  It's not all that extraordinary."

Thorin seemed almost more surprised by that touch on his hand than his original daring. "You're rather unkind to yourself, aren't you?"

Bilbo paused at that, dropping his hand and stepping back slightly, "Really, I'm not remarkable.  I'm just me.  Things you call kind, or, or brave, it just seems like something a human ought to do, doesn't it?"

"Ought to," Thorin agreed, stepping back as well, though he did not look away from Bilbo's face, not quite holding eye contact. "But rarely do."

"More's the pity," Bilbo murmured, never looking away from Thorin but refusing to think about the other's touch.  "If more people would act as humanity ought perhaps it wouldn't seem so surprising when someone does."

"Yes," Thorin agreed. "But it's nice to be surprised from time to time. By kindness at least."

"Then I'm glad I was able to do so," Bilbo said.

Thorin watched him for a moment more. "Sleep well, tonight," he said finally. "I would like to speak to you in the morning before you leave."

"I," Bilbo nodded slightly.  "Of course.  Try to sleep well."

Holding his eyes for a moment, Thorin nodded and stepped back. "In the morning then," he said and closed the door after stepping out backward through it. He had never made it much past the doorframe anyway.

Bilbo stared at the door for a full minute after Thorin had left before stripping out of his stained clothes and trying to clean up.  This was a mistake, start to finish.  He never should have gotten involved and he could feel himself getting deeper and deeper the longer it went on.

-0-

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Fili watched Bofur. "Will you sleep here tonight?" he asked.

Bofur looked toward him, "Do you want me to?"

"Well, you are supposed to keep an eye on me," Fili said and then looked away.

That earned the faintest twitch upward of Bofur's lips and he moved over to Fili, "I could certainly join you."

Fili still didn't quite meet his eyes as he reached out, hands holding Bofur's. "I'm not--" he started and trailed off. "The date thing didn't quite work out, did it?"

Twining his fingers with Fili's, Bofur sighed and sank down to sit beside the blond, "No, it didn't quite work out at all."

"I'm sorry about Nori," Fili said, pain low and dull. "He was closer to you than most."

Bofur drew an unsteady breath at that, "He was a good friend.  A best friend, really.  I don't, I don't know what I'm thinking or, or feeling yet.  It's like he's not quite gone, but I saw it, so he must be."

Fili finally looked back over at him, remembering Nori running for him, Azog towering over them and his teeth sharp and he shuddered. "I'm sorry," he repeated, unable to say anything else. There was a hole in his chest that was Kili, and he wasn’t sure he could feel any more pain.

"Don't," Bofur said, shaking his head.  "Please, don't."

"Then what do you want me to do?" Fili asked, voice strained and still raspy.

"I don't, I don't know.  Just, please don't apologize."

"I'm not sure what else I can do," Fili said. "I just don’t' know what to--to do or so. I can't even make tea."

Bofur looked at him, "I don't, I don't want you to do anything, just, be here?"

Fili met his eyes and finally nodded. "Alright," he said, hoping he meant it because he wanted to run away.

"Are you, are you doing alright?" Bofur asked, "I mean, not alright necessarily, but...how are you doing?"

"I'm not sure which of my problems is worse off," Fili admitted. "And I feel like hell for even worrying about it."

"It's not bad to worry about that, though," Bofur said, turning to face Fili more directly.

"Nori's dead," Fili snapped, more annoyed than he had meant it to be. "And all I can think about is Kili."

Bofur flinched and his eyes narrowed, "I know Nori's dead, somehow I managed not to miss that.  But you just fought _with_ your brother, so it's also not surprising you're thinking about him."

"But I should not be," Fili started and cut off in a frustrated snarl. "I'm s--" he started and remembered Bofur's request. Instead of trying again he dragged Bofur's mouth to his.

Tensing at that motion, it took Bofur a moment to respond to the kiss.  He pressed into it almost desperately, his uninjured hand moving to Fili's hair, tangling in the blond locks. Fili almost dragged Bofur on top of him, pulling back only when his movements made him gasp in pain from his ribcage.

Bofur drew back at that, propping himself away from Fili with his right hand, the left one held close to his chest by the sling Oin had put him in, "Careful there."

"I'm fine," Fili said, but he only rested their foreheads together.

"We're both injured," Bofur said, the closest he was planning to come to calling Fili out on that lie.

Fili lifted his eyes slightly. "I just," he started and shook his head. "I just wish something had been easy."

Bofur paused at that, confusion flickering in his brown eyes, "What do you mean?"

"That I could think to do something to you," Fili said. "And have it work without anything getting in the way."

"That," Bofur cut himself off before he spoke without saying anything, his eyes wide.  "So it isn't tonight.  Give it a couple of days and I can at least use both my hands and arms then.  Currently we make about a full person with all the injuries."

Fili's laugh was half hysterical and it only made him hurt more. "Mother would probably just say I was whining but I just... I guess I just wish something felt easy." He looked up. "Can you turn the light off? And... then come back?"

Bofur carefully eased himself to his feet, "Everything's so hard right now, I don't think it's whining to want something to be easy."  He paused by the light switch to look at Fili for a moment, offering him a faint smile as he shut off the light and carefully felt his way back to the bed.

Holding his hands out, Fili gladly welcomed him back to bed. "Maybe you should get a lamp," he said, carefully not saying we.

That earned a quiet chuckle as Bofur settled onto the bed, "It might not be a bad idea.  What with the light switch being so far away."

"I don't think this was originally a bedroom," Fili said, burrowing against Bofur's chest until he could feel his heartbeat against his ear and focus on that over the ache in his body.

"Could have just been a poorly ordered one," Bofur suggested, his hand rising to comb through FIli's hair as he laid back against the pillows and let his eyes drift shut.

For a moment Fili just breathed before the darkness broke him open and he started shaking, the sobs racking through him and making his ribs hurt. Bofur drew him closer, petting Fili's hair and murmuring softly, words that had little meaning beyond soothing.  His gaze was fixed on the darkness above them and he tried to ignore how his own mind kept replaying the moment Azog's claw had slammed into Nori.

"I'm sorry," Fili said, unable to help it, trying to dry his eyes on the edge of the blanket. "Can--can you even sleep?"

"Shh, it's fine," Bofur said, trying to find an answer to the question. "I don't know, but I'll certainly try."

"Should maybe stop crying on you then?"

"It's fine," Bofur repeated, continuing to pet Fili's hair gently.  "Really."

Fili lay there for a long moment, mulling the words over in his head, wondering if they were too desperate. "Thank you, Bofur," he settled on. "For caring, for letting me stay. "I--It means a lot to me."

"You're welcome, Fili," Bofur replied softly.  "I'll never turn you away, you know that, right?"  His lips quirked upward and his smile carried in his voice, "And thank you for trying to tell me what's going on in your head."

"Oh shut up," Fili muttered, no bite behind it. "It's w--work in progress." He hesitated, perhaps a moment too long. "I'm--I'm trying. Also to believe that you wouldn't turn me away. I'm trying."

"I know you are, and even if I do tease you about it, it means a lot to me that you are trying," Bofur replied, arching his neck so he could kiss the top of Fili's head.

“I'd rather you tease," Fili admitted, rubbing his hand over his eyes.

"Rather than what?" Bofur asked.

"Than not," Fili said. "It's just reassuring."

Bofur chuckled softly at that, the sound rumbling faintly in his chest, "I'll keep that in mind."

"Thank you," Fili said, voice dropping.

"As long as my voice holds out," Bofur said.  "After that I'll have to learn a sign-language or something."

"Might have to relearn your comedic timing," Fili murmured, hands tightening around Bofur's waist.

"I'm sure I'd be able to do it.  I've got people to work off of, after all," his hand stilled in Fili's hair for the briefest of moments at the thought that Nori had always been good for that, playing off of.

"It will look better in the morning," Fili said, as if he caught the thought but his voice wavered.

"Things usually do, something about moonlight washing out color," Bofur said, drawing a deep breath.

"I don't know, I always liked moonlight," Fili said, starting to finally drift off. "It's a soft light, a kinder one. I thought it was beautiful over the ocean on calm nights."

Bofur smiled faintly at that, "Moonlight on waves is beautiful."

"Too bad the night is so scary now," Fili murmured.

"Maybe it will be better again someday.  It can't always be like this," Bofur said.

"There are still vampires," Fili said. "The night will never feel kind again. Not like before. When I was young. And thought I was invincible."

Bofur gently ran his hand over Fili's hair again, "Invincibility sounds nice."

"When Kili--" Fili stopped again. "When we were together, I really thought we were. That's gone now."

Bofur pulled him just a little closer at that, "I'm sorry."

"I thought you said not to say that."

he paused and then chuckled, "I did, didn't I?"

Fili's arms tightened around his waist, ignoring the way it made his ribs hurt. "If you need me," he murmured. "Wake me up."

"I'll probably be waking you up at least once or twice regardless.  That concussion and all."

"Right," Fili said and pushed himself up to push their mouths together briefly. There was no passion behind it. "Thank you."

Bofur smiled faintly, "You're welcome.  Try to get some sleep." Fili nodded, curling back up where he had been and trying to sleep, though it took him far longer than he wished it too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of all the really unhealthy relationships in this story... Fili and Bofur may actually be one of the worst.
> 
> VS would like to take this moment to offer a deep apology, that cliffhanger was not supposed to last this long, but the computer crashed not once but twice while editing this chapter which was pretty demoralizing. And Grad school. That can always be blamed for a lot of things.
> 
> Sorry for the wait, hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	15. Because You are a Particularly Surly Specimen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone has an interesting morning and unresolved sexual tension is everywhere.

Thorin was not often someone who was afraid. He liked to think he had a healthy respect of the world and its ability to kill him and those he loved, but he was not often afraid of it.

Yet when he lay down to sleep, he shivered and he could not tell if it was from pain, the medication Oin had given him, grief, or fear. But he did not sleep much that night and thus rose with the dawn, stumbling down the stairs for the coffee pot and drinking two cups of black coffee before the rest of the house started to stir.

He stared at the table where Nori had laid, the body moved already and the table scrubbed down. They would go to the courthouse later, filling out the paperwork they needed to and find some new excuse for why he had died that would not bring the police knocking on their door. If he remembered right, Nori had wanted to be cremated.

His focus on the table was so intent he did not hear anyone else walk in as he cradled the third cup of coffee to his chest.

Bilbo paused in the doorway, swallowing hard as he caught sight of the table, pristine as it was.  He drew his gaze away, focusing on Thorin, "Is there more of that?"  He had slept, though not well, and there were circles under his eyes and his curls were still tousled.

"You're up early," Thorin said, gesturing to the coffee pot. It was the largest they had been able to pool their money together to buy as most of the household beyond Ori and Dori demanded coffee first thing in the morning. Even Gimli snuck cups when his father was not looking.

Bilbo poured himself a cup of coffee before joining Thorin, "It's actually somewhat late for me.  I'm usually up at sunrise."

"You must to bed early then," Thorin said.

"Relatively.  It doesn't seem to matter when I'm in bed, I wake with the sun or shortly thereafter."

Thorin arched a brow. "It is not healthy if you do not sleep enough," he said and it would have sounded fretful from anyone else. From him it sounded hypocritical.

Bilbo's brow rose, "Says the man who was up before me today."

Thorin shrugged, unconcerned and continued to ship his third cup of coffee. "I do not make a habit of it," he said and realized that he had for the last several months, letting out a frustrated sound.

"Nor do I," Bilbo said.  "I only need five to six hours of sleep a night, really, so to get that I'll take an earlier night in, say, the summer, but for the most part there's more than enough hours."

"You rise with the dawn in all seasons?" Thorin asked. "Perhaps it is good you live no further North."

Bilbo's lips quirked upward, "It's very good I live no further north.  And yes, I do rise with the sun no matter the season. My family seems to be split down the middle as to morning larks and night owls."

"Your family," Thorin repeated. "I have heard little of them."

"I don't speak of them much," Bilbo admitted.  "It makes me homesick and I'm not yet ready to go home."

Thorin stared at him and then looked upward, as if he could see through the ceiling to the rest of the house. "It is odd," he mused. "I do not believe I have left here for more than a week. I'm not sure I could imagine it."

"Our homes are vastly different," Bilbo said, looking around.  "My family, distant relatives as well as close ones, flit in and out of life and hearth for many different reasons.  Some for adventure, some for love, some for duty, some for a desire to help, but eventually we all come back--even if it's many years."  He paused, taking a sip of his coffee, "On the other hand perhaps they're not so different after all, it is just the reasons for departure and the length of time away.  But both draw us back, ever back."

"You have to leave to come back," Thorin said with a shrug.

"I suppose you do at that."  He considered Thorin for a long moment, "You've really never left for more than a week?"

"Perhaps it was a few more days," Thorin admitted. "But not many."

"Why?" Bilbo asked, hands curled around his coffee cup.

Thorin blinked at him and shrugged. "There has always been things I needed to do here," he said.

"But you still left?"

"Well," Thorin rumbled, swallowing another mouthful of coffee to gain his equilibrium back. "It wasn't necessarily by choice."

That earned a single blink from Bilbo, "So you left under duress, but stayed away, for a time at least?"

Thorin's cup clanked against the counter with more force than he intended. "Would you like breakfast?"

Bilbo startled slightly at that, "I, if it's not a bother."

Thorin shrugged, pointing to where some fruit was on the counter. "You can start with that," he said, hunting around another cupboard for bread to make French Toast.

Bilbo considered the fruit, picking up an apple and polishing it on his sleeve, "What will you do now?"

"Cook, I presume," Thorin said, not turning to look at him.

"That's not what I meant," Bilbo said, fixing his gaze on the apple in his hands.

Thorin sighed, hands tight around the pan. "We will talk after breakfast," he said. "I would like to eat and have another cup of coffee first."

He nodded after a moment, "Alright.  Is there, is there anything I can help with here?"

"No," Thorin said. "But thank you."

Bilbo flinched at that, mentally cursing his lack of sleep and the pain in his side for a lack of control in response to gratitude, "It's no trouble to offer something.  Hardly deserving of thanks."

"I like to offer it," Thorin said and stopped. "Oh. You do not like that."

Bilbo shrugged very slightly, "It's no trouble."

"I should be more considerate," Thorin said and Gimli froze in the kitchen doorway. Slowly, he slide around until he could find the cereal. He would avoid Thorin as much as possible.

Bilbo's gaze moved to Gimli and he raised an eyebrow before looking back to Thorin, "For most people, expressions of thanks are considerate."

"But apparently not you," Thorin said and Gimli managed to gain the box before pouring a dry bowl and moving to retreat again.

"You could probably put milk on that," Bilbo suggested to Gimli without looking away from Thorin.  "It's just never been something I'm accustomed to hearing."

"'m good," Gimli said, eying him sideways and retreating.

Thorin watched him go and shook his head, depositing food on a plate and shoving it toward Bilbo. Bilbo picked up the plate, grabbing a fork and knife, "Is there a reason he would be so avidly avoiding you?"

"Was he?" Thorin asked in some surprise.

"He came in here skirted the kitchen and left with a bowl full of dry cereal," Bilbo answered.

"He always eats it that way," Thorin said. "Including when I walk in to the kitchen and he's already half done."

Bilbo wrinkled his nose at that, "I can't imagine that would cause much beyond a parched mouth."

Thorin shrugged, pouring himself another cup of coffee and starting another batch of toast. He would make several more to leave covered for the other early risers.

Bilbo set the plate down on the counter to cut the French toast before picking it up again to eat, "That was....Gloin's son, yes?"

Thorin glanced over his shoulder at him. "Have you been making a study of my family, Mr. Baggins?"

"Not really.  He looks rather like his father, and I've always set out the latest math logic books for Gloin, though he comes into the library but rarely," Bilbo offered by way of explanation.

Thorin considered him before seeming to shrug whatever worried him off. "Yes, he's Gloin's son, Gimli."

Bilbo nodded very slightly, his gaze moving to the doorway again, "He's been in once or twice himself.  Has good taste in architectural art."

For a moment Thorin said nothing, his grip on the pan tightening before he relaxed it. "Yes," he agreed. "I think he wanted to be an architect."

"Past tense?" Bilbo asked quietly.

"I often speak in the past tense," Thorin said. "And he never applied to school."

"It feels like such a depressing tense, though," Bilbo said before he thought about it.

Thorin finally stared at him. "The past does not have to be depressing," he said.

"That's not what I meant," the librarian said.  "I mean, that is, it feels like using it in the sense of 'wanted' or something like that closes the door on the possible hopes and dreams that might still be there."

"You don't believe in giving up dreams then?" Thorin asked.

"Not always," Bilbo replied.  "I think there comes a time when they should be let go, but so many people give up on them too early."

Thorin looked uncomfortable for a moment before he squared his shoulders back. "Well," he said, and set the last batch of toast aside before starting another.

Bilbo hesitated, taking another bite of his food and considering, "It just...."  He trailed off and shook his head, "Never mind."

"What is it?" Thorin asked, glancing back at him.

"It seems a hard way to live if you believe in giving up on dreams."

Thorin's eyes darkened as he watched him before turning back around. "Yes. It rather is."

Bilbo fell still at that and poked at what remained on his plate, "I've said something to anger you.  I seem to do that with some frequency."

"Sometimes," Thorin said, finally turning off the stove and covering most of the toast before taking a small amount for himself. "There are things that matter more than dreams in the end. I cannot help but resent the fact you ever assumed it was easy."

"I didn't assume that.  My phrasing implied that I did, I'll admit that, but I did not mean to assume that."

Thorin laughed, without really meaning to, a low sound. "You apologize easily, and yet accept thanks with difficulty."

"Well, they're two different concepts," Bilbo said with a shrug, though he felt like he wasn't making any sense after that laugh.  "And some things deserve an apology, while I have rarely encountered something that deserved thanks.  At least as most people express it.  Off-handedly."

"I tend not to say things off-handedly," Thorin said, sitting across from him at the table.

"I'm adjusting to that fact still," Bilbo said, pushing his empty plate aside for the moment.

Dwalin stepped into the kitchen, going instantly for the toast and forking several pieces onto a plate. "The courthouse?" he asked and Thorin handed him a cup of coffee.

"Use more words," Thorin said. "Or rather, drink the coffee and then use more words."

"When are we going to the courthouse?" Dis clarified, entering the kitchen and getting herself a cup of coffee.

"An hour, or two," Thorin said as Dwalin inhaled his coffee in three gulps.

Dis nodded, taking a piece of French toast and heading toward the doorway.  She paused and looked at her brother, "We need to talk later."

Thorin and Dwalin both looked at her in surprise, Dwalin raising his brows and pouring a second cup of coffee.

"It's barely past dawn and I'm already going to have to make another pot," Thorin teased.

Dis glanced meaningfully at the back of Bilbo's head and then at her brother before leaving. Watching her go, Thorin almost growled. Dwalin patted his shoulder, sipping the second cup much more slowly. "I need to talk to you, too."

"Oh for the love of," Thorin cut off and Dwalin laughed.

"Not about that, old man," Dwalin said. "I need your advice. There's something I need to give to Dori and I'm not sure about when... When I should do it."

Bilbo hesitated where he was before rising and picking up his dishes to wash, moving away from the table to nominally ignore the conversation.

Thorin blinked at him and then sighed. "Nori wrote a letter?" Dwalin only nodded. "Fuck."

"Life insurance," he added and Thorin set the mug he was holding down with enough force to shatter it.

Bilbo startled at that sound, turning around and looking in Thorin's direction with wide eyes, "He, he took out a life insurance policy?"

"And everyone thought Dori was the pessimistic one," Dwalin said as Thorin swore.

"That...is that normal for you to do?" Bilbo asked mutedly.

"I recall Dori yelling at Nori not to even think about it," Thorin said, and Dwalin sighed. "It's not uncommon."

"He has one," Dwalin said and Thorin stared at him.

Bilbo blinked twice at that, looking from Dwalin to Thorin and back, "I guess I can see why, but..."  He stopped and shook his head.

"It's morbid as fuck," Dwalin said.

"Well, yes," the librarian agreed after a moment.  "But I was trying not to say that."

Dwalin shrugged. "Dwalin has never been taught subtly," Thorin rumbled. "You'll have to excuse him."

That earned a hint of a smile from Bilbo, "It's, actually it's rather refreshing, if surprising."

"See, Thorin? I'm refreshing," Dwalin said and Thorin shook his head. "What should I do?" he asked, dropping his voice back down again.

"Sooner, rather than later," Thorin said.

Bilbo set his dishes to dry and moved back to the table, picking up the pieces of Thorin's mug. "You don't," Thorin said, reaching out and froze when his hand ran into Bilbo's.

The librarian froze at that, his eyes widening as he looked to Thorin, "I, I can't do much else to help."

"Alright," Thorin said, snatching his hand back.

Fili stopped in the doorway, raising his brows. "Toast?"

BIlbo scooped up the broken pieces and dropped them into the trash as he gathered a rag, "Your uncle made it, there's quite a bit there."

"Yes, he did," Fili agreed and moved over.

"Remind me to yell at you later," Thorin drawled.

"Can my head be hurting less?" Fili asked and Thorin reached forward to cup the back of his head, pulling it back so he could look at Fili's eyes.

"How bad is it hurting?" Thorin asked and Fili shrugged.

"A mix between getting hit with a bat and a bad hang over. It'll be fine."

Bofur came in quietly, his eyebrows rising at the sight of the French toast and went to dish up some up.  Bilbo cleaned up the last slivers of the mug before settling near Thorin again.

"You're not fine," Thorin said, dropping his hands back down and Fili would have rolled his eyes at any other time.

"Yelling at me later," Fili reminded, sliding away and stealing toast off Bofur's plate.

"He said it will be, not that he is," Bilbo murmured before he thought about it.

"Nothing will be fine," Thorin said and stepped back.

Bilbo drew a deep breath at that, "His head and the concussion will be, I'm sure."

Thorin laughed, not really as amused as he should have been, pointing at Fili. "It's his head I worry the most about. The brain, in particular."

Bilbo looked vaguely entertained nonetheless, "He seems to be doing better today."

"Appearances can be deceiving," Thorin shrugged. Fili looked up from where he was eating off Bofur's plate.

Dori entered the kitchen and hesitated when he saw how many people were there, including the librarian which he kept from remarking on. When Dwalin refused to move Thorin rested a hand on his shoulder and shoved slightly. "Dori," Thorin greeted. "Good morning."

Dori looked in his direction and nodded slightly, keeping from saying the first thing on his mind, "Morning."  He moved over and poured himself a cup of coffee.  "Rather a lot of people in here considering the hour."

"No one's slept," Fili said and Thorin moved quickly to hand Dori a plate, before resting his hands on Dori's shoulders.

"How are you?" he asked, head bent down slightly.

Dori accepted the plate and carefully didn't shrug off Thorin's hand, his lips quirking upward for the briefest moment, "As fine as I can be."

Thorin nodded. "Eat. Then I believe Dwalin and I need to talk to you." He paused. "How is Ori?" Still by the coffee pot, Dwalin look relieved that Thorin had asked the question.

Dori used the side of his fork to cut the French toast and he shook his head, "He's not doing well.  Not really."

"Can we do anything?" Thorin asked.

"I don't," he drew a deep breath and shook his head, "I don't know."

"Anything you need," Thorin promised. "Do not ever be afraid to ask." Twirling his fork, Fili watched across the room, remembering how much easier it was for Thorin to cope and delegate other people's grief than his own.

Dori met Thorin's eyes and he paused before nodding, "Thank you." Thorin tried of offer him a faint smile before moving back.

Bilbo had watched the exchange quietly from where he was, considering the interaction and the way they moved around each other.  He hated the feeling coiling in his gut and he quashed it, reminding himself that they had known each other for quite a long time from what he knew, and Dori had just lost his brother.

Pushing himself to his feet, Fili glanced at Bofur. "I'm going to check on Ori," he said quietly when he couldn't stand it anymore in the kitchen.

Bofur nodded ever so slightly, rising to follow him out.  Dori watched them go and sighed, "You said you and Dwalin have something to talk to me about?"  Hesitating when that was said, Bilbo quietly excused himself and slipped out of the kitchen.

"You could--" Thorin started to say and stopped. "Yes."

Dori looked at Thorin, raising his eyebrows, "Could...?"

"Finish eating," Thorin finished.

Dori sighed, setting aside the mostly finished meal, "I don't think I'm in a state to eat much more than that."

Taking a deep breath, Dwalin pulled a letter out from his back pocket, handing it to Dori. "Nori left this with me," he said, throat cogging. "In case."

Dori's hands shook very slightly as he opened the envelope, looking at Dwalin, "When did he leave this with you?"

"Couple years ago," Dwalin said. "He... was rather maudlin."

Carefully pulling the contents out, Dori managed to force something that could pass as a smile, "He certainly could be."

Dwalin leaned back, having been read drafts of the letter in the past and not looking forward to seeing Dori read it. "He loved you and Ori very much."

"Which was never something I doubted," Dori responded, squaring his shoulders before he unfolded the letter to read it. As he read, Dori could feel himself coming apart, his already fragile facade breaking down until he had to read sentences twice because tears blurred his vision.  His fingers tightening on the paper left wrinkles in it and his other hand rose to cover his mouth as a physical suppressor of any noise he might make.

Completely ignoring the pain in his own back, Thorin dropping down to his knees in front of him, only barely not dragging him into his arms, but resting his hands on Dori's knees.

Dori dropped the letter when he finished it, leaning in to hide his face against Thorin's shoulder, choking back sounds beyond a quiet, "Bastard."

Not saying anything, Thorin only drew him closer, arms wrapping around his back and one resting on his neck.

"I don't, I just want him back damn it," Dori murmured, his breath hitching and he clamped his mouth shut again to avoid it.

"I know," Thorin rumbled, Dwalin running a shaky hand over his own face and seriously considering leaving. "I know. I'll do anything you need me too."

"Just, just help me keep Ori safe," Dori finally managed.  "That's, that's all I can ask right now."

Thorin opened his mouth, thought about Fili and nodded. "Alright," he said, running a hand up and down Dori's back. "Alright."

Dori drew back enough to wipe his eyes, trying to steady himself again, "God, how am I supposed to do this...."

"You can't," Thorin said. The memory of lighter hair and a grating laugh, the way Ferin's eyes crinkled when he was amused was an old, scabbed over wound. The thought of Kili hanging off Fili, or the bright babbling way he had of talking was still bleeding. "You just keep going anyway."

Dori looked toward the letter again and drew a shuddering breath, "I can't even remember if we fought before you two went out or not."

"Those are the thoughts you'll kill yourself with," Thorin said quickly. "You can't let yourself go down that path, please."

"I..." Dori swallowed hard and nodded, "Alright."

"Please," Thorin said, hands on Dori's cheeks. "To take care of Ori you have to take care of yourself too."

Dori closed his eyes and leaned into the touch before he realized what he was doing, "All I can do is try."

"That's all anyone could ask," Thorin agreed. But he would ask it quite forcefully.

"He left money for Ori to go to college, or rather, the policy's enough to grant that," Dori said, drawing back slightly and meeting Thorin's eyes.  "If Ori will even do so."

Thorin let out a breath, wanting to throttle Nori if he had not already been dead. "I'm sure Ori will," he said.

"One can hope," Dori murmured.  He picked up the letter again, folding it carefully, "How the hell am I supposed to tell Ori about this?"

Thorin blinked and swallowed hard. "Do you want someone else to?" he asked.

Dori hesitated before he shook his head, "I should do it."

"Alright," Thorin said though he had not drawn back yet.

Pulling back further, Dori pulled at Thorin's wrist very lightly, "You probably shouldn't be doing this much movement.  You weren't in very good shape last, last night."

Thorin blinked, wondering if he could keep his back to Dori until Oin woke up, considering he was fairly certain some of the stitches had already been unraveled and he could feel the weight of Dwalin's eyes on him. "I'll heal," he said. "I'm sorry I couldn't get to Nori in time."

Dori drew a deep breath at that, "Please don't.  Don't blame yourself, and don't apologize."

"I'll try not to then," Thorin said, forcing a smile.

Dori offered him a wan smile in response, "Thank you." Pulling his face down, Thorin rested their foreheads together a moment before leaning back and swallowing the apologies down.

Dori drew back, placing his hands in his lap and curling them together to resist any further desire to touch Thorin whether to comfort or for comfort. Seeming to feel the dismissal, Thorin pulled back. "Whatever you need," he said. "I will give you. Please do not fear to ask."

Dori looked at Thorin for a long moment, reminding himself not to say the first things that came to mind as requests and finally nodding, "I will.  Thank you." Nodding, Thorin pushed himself back to his feet, walking backwards to the counter.

Pausing for a long moment, Dori finally levered himself to his feet, resting a hand on the back of the chair he'd been sitting in, "I should, I should go talk to Ori."

"We shall leave in an hour or so," Thorin said.

He paused and looked back to Thorin before nodding, "Do you need me to come?"

"I believe we can manage without," Thorin said. "If you would rather not."

Dori's hand tightened on the letter and he shook his head, "No, no I can come along.  Better I do so than you find out after the fact that you can't manage without."

"If you need the time," Thorin said. "I would rather you take it."

"That's never been something I'm very good at," Dori admitted quietly.

"Then I'll make sure we don't leave without you," Thorin said.

"Thank you," Dori said again, pausing before he finally left, not noticing Bilbo where the librarian was leaning against the wall just outside the kitchen.

"I'll just go wake Oin then, shall I?" Dwalin said.

"Yes please," Thorin said, not looking over but his voice showed strain for the first time since Dori entered.

Bilbo slipped into the kitchen in time to seem as though all he had heard was the last exchange, "You've reinjured yourself?"

"It's just one of the stitches," Thorin said, and he would have shrugged but he remembered in time what they were talking about.

"You should sit down," Bilbo said, pulling out one of the chairs as he spoke.

Thorin considered protesting before he shrugged and straddled the chair, leaning his elbows on the back of it. Watching the exchange, Dwalin just shook his head before heading up the stairs to find Oin.

Bilbo moved around the kitchen, cleaning the dishes that had been left by or in the sink by those who had come and gone, "Have you all always been together?"

"Most of us," Thorin said after a moment. "We're more or less distantly related, besides Bofur and his kin."

"When did they arrive?"

"Several years ago," Thorin said. "Five--No, seven."

Bilbo nodded very slightly at that, "So they've been here quite some time."

"Yes," Thorin said.

Bilbo finished the dishes and set them to the side to dry, wiping his hands off and turning to face Thorin as Oin entered.  The medic frowned at Thorin and moved over, "Dwalin says you've popped a stitch?"

Thorin hummed. "I did not sleep well last night," he said. "It probably just came undone at some point."

Oin looked like he doubted that and Bilbo frowned at Thorin's lie even as the medic moved to re-stitch the wound, "You need to be more careful with these.  They're deep enough without you complicating the healing."

"I'll be careful," Thorin said and Dwalin actually snorted.

Oin glanced at the back of Thorin's head briefly and shook his head, "Of course you will."

"One of you could have faith in me," Thorin muttered.

"I've patched you up too many times to have faith that you will be careful once I've done so," Oin said by way of answer, his hearing aids working well for once.

"Or are you trying to impress your boyfriend?" Dwalin asked and Thorin slowly turned his head over to stare at him.

"Are you twelve?" he asked and Dwalin only shrugged. The pall of grief over the house felt like it was strangling them all and Thorin most of all, and Dwalin knew when to force Thorin into an embrace and make him mourn, and when to distract him.

Oin snorted at that and Bilbo startled slightly, looking toward Dwalin with wide eyes before shaking his head, "I can't think of anyone who would find that behavior impressive."

"Suffering in silence isn't manly?" Dwalin asked.

"Suffering in silence is ludicrous and negates anyone's ability to help you," Bilbo replied.

Oin chuckled, "I like him, keep him around."

"Not sure that's ever been my choice," Thorin said instead of anything else.

Bilbo glanced in that direction, "Whose would it be in that case?"

"Yours," Thorin said in some surprise. "I would assume."

"All you'd have to say is 'go' and I'd go," Bilbo said.  "And really, the number of people around here who hold enough sway to say the same is remarkable."

Thorin blinked. "But if you do not wish to stay nothing I could say would change your mind either. And Oin is requesting you stay."

"Have I ever given reason to believe that I don't wish to stay?" Bilbo asked, "And I'm sure there are things you could say to change my mind."

Thorin and Dwalin both blinked before Dwalin decided there was still something for him to do elsewhere and he retreated out the kitchen door. "Oh," Thorin said finally when it had been too long since he reacted.

Bilbo shifted at that and Oin tied off the stitches he had redone before leaving quietly. As he left, Thorin reached for his shirt, pulling it back on and buttoning it slowly, pain having leeched out of his wounds and into his fingertips.

Bilbo paused before setting a dose of the painkillers Oin had given him the night before down for Thorin.

"Seriously?" Thorin said, arching a brow and looking up at him.

He shrugged in response, "If you've already taken them this morning don't take them.  If you haven't, it might be wise."

"What faith you have in me," Thorin drawled.

"Well, I don't know your patterns, but Oin and Dwalin seem to."

Thorin sighed. "I have taken my pills like a good patient," he said, looking up at Bilbo.

Bilbo's lips quirked upward at that, "Keep them for later then.  I can't take them."

"What?" Thorin asked, attention focusing.

"I'm--" he couldn't say he was allergic because that wasn't quite accurate, "I can't take them."

"Alright," Thorin said. "We can go by a pharmacy if you need to pick something else up."

"I'm fine.  I have what I need at home."

Thorin pushed himself up, giving Bilbo a strained smile. "Can I get you anything else? We'll leave in an hour."

"No, I don't need anything.  Is, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Don't die?" Thorin offered, thought that’s not what Bilbo had been asking.

Bilbo paused at that, "I promise to do all in my power to stay alive."

"Then that's what you can do," Thorin said. "Too many have already died." Thorin let out a deep breath, shaking his head to refocus his thoughts. "Are you alright with waiting a while longer to leave?"

"I've nothing else on my schedule today, so I don't mind," Bilbo said by way of answer.

Thorin opened his mouth and then stopped before giving Bilbo an almost wry smile. "I was about to thank you again for last night," he said. "For choosing to stay and help us.  But I suppose you'll like that even less than usual."

Bilbo's lips quirked upward at that, "I only did what I felt should be done."

"I still appreciate it," Thorin said. "You were not born into this, it seems, and yet you are not running. It's rare, I suppose."

"Well, this, this thing is going to affect us all, isn't it?" Bilbo asked after a moment.

"Doesn't mean we're willing to do what we have to, despite that," Thorin said, his own voice dropping and as he brooded at himself. "The world has lasted a long time, it is too easy for us to think we will have to do nothing to keep it such."

For a long moment, he sat staring at his hands and gathering himself.

"My family has long-reaching tales," Bilbo said, shaking his head.  "And they all emphasize the need to aid when and where we can."

"I need a meeting with the vampires," Thorin said, finally looking back up.

Bilbo stared at him for a long moment before nodding, "I can, I can try and find someway to contact Gandalf....though I can't make any promises about being able to reach him."

"I have no other idea how to contact them," Thorin said and Gimli froze in the doorway, having come to get coffee for his mother in time to catch some idea of what they were talking about.

Bilbo glanced in Gimli's direction, one of his eyebrows quirking slightly but he turned back to Thorin, "I'll do my best."

"Uh," Gimli managed and Thorin turned back to look at him. "You--did you just say you needed a meeting with the vampires?"

"Yes," Thorin said. "They have offered a possible alliance." He expected that no one he had not already told would know of that.

"Yeah," Gimli said, shifting from foot to foot. "I think they'd be pretty keen on that." Thorin's eyes narrowed slightly watching him and Gimli swallowed hard under the scrutiny. "I mean, um," he wilted.

"Gimli," Thorin said, his voice low and rumbling. "Is there something you'd like to say?"

Gimli blinked, suddenly even more glad that Thorin often ignored him more or less in favor of his nephews. "I think getting them to have a meeting wouldn't be too hard."

"If we can contact them," Thorin said, arching a brow as if daring Gimli to contradict him.

"About that," Gimli said weakly.

Bilbo watched the young man before retreating to the coffee and pouring a cup of it, trying to stay out of the way of something which looked like it could end badly.

"About that?" Thorin repeated incredulously.

"It's just that," Gimli said. "I was, uh, abducted more or less by one a while ago and have, er, his number." Thorin sat frozen, expression of surprise slowly morphing into horror and anger. Gimli rather wished he hadn't said anything. "I know he's part of Galadriel's group," Gimli pushed on. "If you need to... get into contact with them."

"Set up the meeting," Thorin ground out, rocks smashing together in his voice.

"What?" Gimli asked. "Just--just like that? You want _me_ to set up a meet like this?"

"You're the one with the number," Thorin said and swept out of the kitchen, Gimli watching him with huge eyes. Bilbo bit his lip, setting the coffee down for Gimli and following quickly on Thorin's heels.

Thorin was at his bedroom door when he finally seemed to register that Bilbo was following him. "Can I help you?" he asked, stopping and turning.

"Actually I was mostly getting out of the kitchen to leave Gimli to his own devices.  Is there somewhere I can wait until it's time to go?"

Thorin was about to open his mouth and say the living room and shrugged, checking his watch. "I should change," he said. "You are welcome enough to stay in the living room or wherever you like." He pushed the door open and left it that way. Bilbo hesitated, caught indecisively in the hall for a moment before he slipped into the room after Thorin.

Everything was neat inside the doorway, far neater than most of the house, and there were even separate baskets for normal dirty clothing and that which had bloodstains or needed to be mended. The only thing out of place were the dozens of books strewn around, on the small desk and chairs and even on the nightstand, and the pages and pages of cramped notes scrawled out in ink on top of the books or shoved in between pages.

Thorin moved to the closet, unsure why he had bothered to button the shirt he was wearing back up considering the blood on the back now.

Bilbo let his gaze move around the room, pausing and running his fingers over the cover of one of the books on the desk and trying not to think about what the room could say about Thorin himself.  The only thing that appeared remotely chaotic, and even then it was controlled, was knowledge and research for the life of a hunter.  There was very little _living_ in the room and that made Bilbo feel uncomfortable, though it finally helped him pin down why the entire house set him on edge.

Glancing back at Bilbo as he set a different undershirt and button up on the bed, Thorin arched a brow at his expression. "Is something the matter?"

Bilbo drew his hand back from the book he'd been staring distantly at, almost startling, "What?  Oh, not really.  Just different I suppose."

Thorin opened his mouth to apologize for the mess and closed it again.

"Your life seems very controlled," Bilbo said before he thought about it.

"What I can of it," Thorin said wincing as he pulled the shirt off and took a breath before wrestling into the undershirt. "As I cannot control the darkness, or its ability to take my family away."

Bilbo nodded very slightly, running a hand over the book again, "You've a lot of research in this room."

"I'm starting to realize," Thorin said. "How little we understood. There are journals, that my grandfather passed down from his grandfather that spoke of demons and goblins. And yet we have only concerned ourselves with vampires for a long time." He paused, working the buttons back up slowly. "I wonder if the larger demons have simply left, or gone further underground and we had not the will to chase them. Or if we're only blind."

"People can miss things if they're not looking for them.  There are many sorts of creatures out there, and it wouldn't surprise me if some of the demons had stayed on this plane rather than leave centuries past," Bilbo mused.

Eyes moving over to him, Thorin stopped for a moment before bending his head back down. "That is what concerns me."

"They would likely be deeply buried if they did.  Most creatures of darkness dislike daylight on principle, even if some can walk in it."

“And we know so little of them," Thorin said. "I do not like fighting blind."

"I'll see if I can find anything that might give a hint to what could have stayed behind."

"Thank you," Thorin said, finally turning back to him and using his fingers to make sure his hair was mostly laying flat.

Bilbo flinched nearly imperceptibly at the thanks when Thorin's back was turned and drew away from the books and papers, sliding his hands into his pockets to make sure he didn't touch anything further.

"Nothing is going to attack you here," Thorin said, looking back over at him.

That earned him a blink, "What?  I know that," _mostly_. He would feel far more secure in the home of people who distrusted and hunted non-human creatures if he himself were the human he was pretending to be.  Certainly, he had never directly said he was human, nor was he malicious in his inhumanity, but he had also very decidedly never corrected those who assumed he was a person like they were.

Thorin paused, heading for the door and stopping. "Do you like history books, Mr. Baggins?"

Bilbo tilted his head slightly to one side as he considered the reasons behind that question before he nodded, "I do, yes.  I'm fascinated by them, really."

Thorin nodded and hesitated before pulling a book from where it was on the nightstand and dusting if the clean cover before handing it to Bilbo. "I think you might enjoy this," he said. "If--if you have not already read it"

Hands closing around the book, Bilbo looked at the title and his eyes lit up, "No, this is one I haven’t yet read.  I appreciate it."

Thorin nodded and stopped at the door, waiting for Bilbo to precede him. Bilbo slipped out of the room, offering Thorin a bit of a smile as he passed him. Watching him, Thorin frowned to himself before following.

-0-

Gimli's fingers were shaking as he pulled his phone out, having run outside and hidden himself behind the big tree out back. Jamming the phone between his shoulder and ear he wrapped his arms around his knees as he listened to it ring. "You son of a bitch," he muttered. "You blond horror, you asshole, don't you dare let this go to voice mail or I swear to god--you fucking bastard this is all your fault--"

The phone on the other end clicked on at that point, Legolas having made certain there was a door between himself and the rest of the house as he answered.  He caught the last word and responded accordingly, "What's my fault now?"

"Everything," Gimli hissed, hand going up automatically to the phone and he sat up straighter.

Legolas grit his teeth, leaning back against the wall, "Well that narrows it down."

Gimli swallowed, trying to wrestle his anger down. The last time they'd talked, he had walked away and now he called yelling. "Alright, not everything," he muttered into his beard. "A lot of things though. Are you safe? After--after last night?"

"I wasn't out, and Arwen and Kili arriving back put a hold on anyone else leaving except a handful of the elder ones," he answered, pausing.  "Are you?"

"Yeah," he said. "The same. No one's really going out, I don't think. At least not at night." He paused. "Nori's dead though. And we suddenly have a demon head in our kitchen."

Legolas' eyes slipped closed at that, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah," Gimli said, throat clogging. "Do you guys have any more information on your end about the demons?"

"Their commander's dead.  That’s the demon that was keeping the others in check.  Thorin killed him from what Kili and Arwen said," he hesitated.  "We're hoping that the other demons can be tracked down and killed before they can pull themselves together enough to wreak their own destruction."

"Commander?" Gimli asked. "Demons have hierarchies? Are you serious?"

"Sort of.  As far as I can determine there are some demons that hold control over the general demons, but I don't know exactly how it works.  All I know is that the commander's dead now."

Gimli took a deep breath. "And you--you're okay?"

Legolas paused at that, biting back a faint growl before he answered, "I'm doing fine.  Now, what's my fault?"

"I don't just mean physically either, you bastard," Gimli said before he could stop it.

"Then, since you asked, no.  I'm not alright," Legolas snapped.

Gimli's fingers twitched on the phone. "I should have called before."

"And here I thought you'd said everything you needed to when last we spoke," he winced at how icy his voice had turned.

"You have definitely ruined any image of vampires I've ever been given by stupid movies," Gimli snapped. "You know the ones where vampires are suave and aloof because you are a particularly surly specimen."

"Well, I think I'm at least somewhat within my rights.  Because damn it, maybe I don't care whether you feel ready to be a memory or not, because whether you feel like it or not you're going to be already!"

Gimli collapsed back against the three and was silent for the time it took him to get his throat to work and finally swallow again.

Legolas rested a fist against the bridge of his nose, huffing out an unneeded breath before speaking again, "I would rather have memories that extend beyond what we already have than have it end here.  I'm not ready to let you go, and my mind certainly isn't."

"Fuck," Gimli managed. "Okay--we should talk. Because--I do miss you. And I'd like to see you again."

"And I you.  After last night it's going to be next to impossible," Legolas murmured.

"Uh," Gimli said. "So, look, god I miss you. But that's not actually why I called. Though I wanted to make sure you were okay too."

The vampire on the other end of the line paused for a long moment, "And why did you call?"

Gimli almost started swearing. "Look, no one in this house is really at their best right now--I mean, no one actually slept and I do mean no one. Bifur was cleaning the kitchen at one, and when I came down at four Dwalin and dad were playing chess and I think we mostly gave up at dawn and we've already gone through two whole coffee pots--and by pot I mean huge pot--and I told Thorin I had your number. Well, not your number but a contact."

Legolas drew the phone away from his ear long enough to give it an incredulous look as though it had broken in the last minute, "....You told Thorin you had a contact in this household?  _Why_?"

"He wants a meeting," Gimli said. "An alliance. I just said that I was stupid okay?"

Paling, Legolas fell completely silent for a long moment, "And so you called me.  Which means I now have to go explain to the Lord and Lady that Thorin wants an alliance.  And from there explain how I know that."

"They wanted it, don't they?" Gimli asked. "And let's not even talk about Thorin basically giving me the entire fucking task of setting it up either because when he asks you to do something you gotta assume he means for you to do it all. But both sides want and need this, right?"

"Right.  I'll speak with the Lady and get back to you," Legolas said.

"That was cold," Gimli said, dropping his head back to his knees.

"I'm sorry," he replied almost automatically, though his tone was more contrite than usual.  "I'm trying to figure out how to broach the subject with them, or with her, or....oh hellsfire I'm going to have to ask the twins how to do this."

"Sorry," Gimli said. "I'm just glad the librarian was in the kitchen and Thorin has this family loyalty thing because I'm dead later."

"You're the one with the contact, so you'll survive at least long enough to get this set," Legolas replied, the delivery falling flat.

"That wasn't horribly reassuring," Gimli said.

Legolas smiled faintly at that, looking at the wall opposite, "No, I guess it wasn't.  I wish you luck to survive, because you and I still need to talk."

"Yeah," Gimli agreed. "I'd rather do it when I could... see you," he amended at the last second, touch sounding far too forward.

"Agreed."

"And you're rather nice to look at," Gimli said, tilting his head back and staring at the sun. He wondered what Legolas with his blond hair and pale skin would like under the sun and buried his face in his knees again, trying to suppress the idea. It wasn't particularly fair to either of them.

"I," Legolas couldn't help his smile at that, "Thank you.  You're rather nice to look at yourself."

"Sure, if you like short and stocky with a flaming red beard," Gimli muttered.

"Which I thought I had expressed I do," Legolas said.

"You're so weird," Gimli managed through a dry throat.

"It's weird to like you?"

"A little," Gimli said. "Or a lot. I mean, you can have anyone, more or less and you chose me, yeah, that's weird."

"But I don't want anyone," Legolas said, frowning.

"That's what I'm still figuring out," Gimli admitted. "And the whole mortality thing."

"As long as we're clear on the fact that I’m not ready to give you up."

Gimli swallowed hard. "That's sort of intimidating, you know. Having anyone say that let alone someone like you."

Legolas paused at that, "I...I don't really mean it to be, but I'm not sure how else to put it."

"It's sorta nice," Gimli said. "I just want time--but I guess you don't feel like I have all that much time do you?"

"It's become more apparent to me how short mortal life spans are, and, well, you're a hunter to boot."

"Yeah," Gimli said. "And there's the whole end of the world. But--I think about you. I want to kiss you and we haven't really done that all that much. But you scare me too, and it's not just what you say."

Legolas sighed, letting his head fall back against the wall, "There's more than that?"

"It's what you are," Gimli said. "You know, the whole glimmer in your eye in a couple hundred years? That's a lot of commitment for a first time."

"I guess I lose sight of that perspective," Legolas admitted after a moment.

"Yeah," Gimli said. "God, I really wanna see you."

"We'll find a way to do so," Legolas promised before he could catch himself.

"Yeah?" Gimli said and felt his cheeks heat. "Alright. Seriously though. We need to work out something for both Thorin and your lord and lady about this alliance."

"I'll talk to them.  I can call you back as soon as I've spoken with them?"

"Yeah," Gimli said. "Thorin is going out. Let me know when you do and I guess--I guess we'll work something out."

"Be careful," Legolas murmured.

"Yeah," Gimli said. "Promise I'll be careful, even if that's all I can promise."

"And that's all I can ask.  Good bye, Gimli."

"I'll talk to you later," Gimli said, not liking the finality of goodbye.

"I'll talk to you later," Legolas echoed, pausing for a brief moment before hanging up.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long time with no update! Life was crazy, but moreso due to some stuff going on, VS had to take a long break from all Hobbit related fandom things for mental health. We're back now!


	16. That's My Choice to Make

Thorin stepped toward the driver’s side of the car, focusing on where they were going and less on getting there until Dwalin cleared his throat. "What?" he asked and Dwalin arched a brow at him and then the open driver's side door. "Oh."

"I'll drive," Dwalin said.

Dori slid into the backseat behind the driver's side, Bilbo settling into the other side of the back seat, glancing briefly at Dori.

"I assume you can tell me where you live?" Dwalin asked, arching a brow at Thorin.

Bilbo nodded, "Yes, I'm over on 76th."

Dori glanced at Bilbo, his eyebrows rising, "Do you usually walk all the way from the library to your home?  That's quite the distance."

Bilbo shrugged, "Cutting through the park takes half the time off of it. And is more comfortable than walking on the cement sidewalks anyhow."

"There's also a large number of shadows and dark patches in the park," Dori replied, perhaps a shade suspicious.

"Which is why usually I avoid it after dark."

"Except last night," Thorin said, from the front passenger's side and trying to remember the last time he had not driven his own car. It made his fingers twitch to be sitting still.

"Except last night," Bilbo agreed.

"What was different about last night?" Dori asked, watching Bilbo carefully.

The librarian paused for a long moment as he tried to figure out how to answer it, "It was the night directly between the equinox and the solstice last night."

Thorin frowned at the rearview mirror. "Is that relevant?"

"It's a night of revelry back home, and I wasn't thinking about it when I cut through the park.  It's, it's a night that recognizes the changing seasons through the effects on the natural world, and there's not a lot of natural world visible in this city except the park," Bilbo knew he needed to stop talking, but he also knew better than to leave the questions unanswered.

Dwalin's arched brow inched over toward Thorin, who ignored it. "You must have had interesting parties back home."

"They could be," Bilbo agreed, glancing over as Dori settled further back against the seat and closed his eyes.  "Dances, music, guests from all over."

"It sounds nice," Thorin tried, testing the words out.

Dwalin huffed. "Thorin, you haven't been near something that qualifies as a party in twenty years, and before that they were hardly something out in a field with guests and revelry."

"Well, there was dancing at least."

Dori chuckled faintly, opening his eyes again to look toward Bilbo, "You have many of those sorts of parties?"

"Every solstice, equinox, and the night directly between each.  So eight times a year, and then any excuse in the interim that can be found," he answered easily enough.

"Those are rather specific dates," Thorin remarked.

"They’re the ones that coincide with our religious rites," Bilbo answered.

"Are you religious then?" Thorin asked in obvious surprise.

Bilbo's lips quirked upward at that, "Not exceptionally, but who says no to revels?"

"Oh," Thorin said and settled down slightly.

Dori glanced at Bilbo, considering him for a moment, "I'm familiar with the practice of holidays near the winter solstice, but I'm not sure I've heard of a religion that coincides with the days you listed."

Bilbo shrugged very slightly, "And now you have."

In the front seat, Thorin was carefully ignoring the look Dwalin kept sliding over when he was not watching the road.

Dori's eyebrows rose slightly, "What religion is it?"

"It doesn't have a name," Bilbo answered.

That time Thorin met Dwalin's look. "All religions have some name," Dwalin said, looking in the rearview mirror. "Unless it is unnamable." Thorin narrowed his eyes across the seat at Dwalin, for they both knew all unnamable religions were usually something to do with black magic.

Bilbo shifted back at that accusation, "It's not unnamable, it's a name that's been forgotten.  Practices and some rites get passed down, but the name's been lost."

"Where is it practiced?"  Dori asked, watching Bilbo closely and cataloguing his reactions.

"Anywhere there's someone who believes in it.  It originated in the British Isles, I believe," Bilbo answered.  "But again, it's old, and I don't really practice it and tended to ignore my father when he talked about its history so I don't remember the exact origins."

Thorin let out a long breath when Bilbo's street came into view. "And if you happen to find Gandalf, do make sure you try to get him in contact with us, would you?"

"Gladly," Bilbo said, wincing when his tone was more clipped than he intended.

"Th--It would be appreciated," Thorin said.

Bilbo's lips quirked upward slightly and he nodded, "The apartment complex on the next corner's mine.  I appreciate the ride."

"You're welcome," Dwalin said, pulling the car over.

Bilbo slipped out, wishing them a good day and entered the building without a backward glance.  He could feel himself shaking for most of his trip up to his apartment.  Dori frowned at the building slightly, "Curious."

"Curious indeed," Dwalin repeated. "A religion so old it's forgotten its own name?"

"If you say black magic--" Thorin started.

"Actually, I wasn't going to," Dwalin said, calm. "But I'm glad you're actually worried about it too."

"If not entirely black, then it's certainly more than a little grey," Dori murmured.

"It could not be black magic, or grey," Dwalin said, pulling away. "But he's certainly part of something that could be very, very bad."

"Or utterly unimportant," Thorin returned and Dwalin used the pause at the stop sign to give him a long look. "Stop it."

"Difficult to know without a name or more knowledge of the practices beyond eight specifically placed holy days through the year--almost equidistant from each other," Dori said.

"It could be dismissed as new age nonsense if he hadn't mentioned the fact he forgot what it was called," Dwalin said.

"Exactly," Dori agreed.  "I can see if there's anything to be found on that scant information we have."

"That--" Thorin started. "Alright."

Dori looked at Thorin for a long moment, "It would be good to know just in case."

"It would," he agreed but did not sound happy with it.

Dori frowned very slightly at that response, but didn't say anything further on it.

-0-

Kili shifted his shoulders slightly, the weight of the sword on his back different from the one he carried the night before and it made him feel only more unbalanced. "It's good to know you don't trust us to take care of ourselves anymore," he remarked, having to look up slightly at Glorfindel.

"This has nothing to do with trust," Glorfindel said, his blond hair pulled back and his sword on is back, a wide variety of knives hidden around his person.  "It has everything to do with the fact that we're not entirely sure you all won't kill each other if we leave you unsupervised half the time."

"We won't kill each other," Kili protested. "I think. Unless that's happened in the past and I just don't know about it."

"Arwen's refusing to go with any of you, the twins won't be separated right now, and you and Legolas are still too varied in your interactions," Glorfindel said, not elaborating on the possibility of it having happened in the past.

"Uh-huh," Kili said but he did not disagree.

"You've also proven yourself more than capable in a fight, considering last night," Glorfindel said, his gaze flitting about their surroundings for any signs of motion.

"Not sure that proved much of anything at all," Kili said, kicking a rock hard as he looked up and considered the street they were walking down. He recognized the place and stopped. "Are you quite certain we should be patrolling so close to hunter territory?" he asked, despite Galadriel's announcement before everyone left for the night that a meeting was being set up between the two groups.

Glorfindel glanced at him, "I would rather not leave them to the demons should the creatures decide that this is a preferred hunting ground, would you?"

"No," Kili said hotly. "But they, I mean, one of--I still got shot last night."

"So we go carefully," Glorfindel replied.  "We'll skirt the edges of the territory."

"Alright," Kili said, kicking another rock and looking up to see a cafe where he and Fili would often go when the house felt too oppressive or Thorin and Dis had been particularly keen to yell at them. The memory made his stomach hurt but he froze when he saw Fili standing by the door, cigarette in hand and totally alone.

Glorfindel had taken another step and paused to look back at Kili, "What is it?"

Kili moved past him, too fast to be quite human until he was in front of Fili. "Are you out of your mind?" he snarled and Fili startled back further into the wall.

"Jesus Christ," he said, almost dropping the cigarette.

Glorfindel startled ever so slightly, following Kili more leisurely while keeping his eyes on both Kili and the human who he would stake anything on being the vampire's brother.

"Are you insane?" Kili demanded, not quite trapping Fili against the wall. "Are you stupid? _What are you thinking_?"

Fili blinked, and almost smiled. "Well, I was hoping you would stop by."

"There are demons!" Kili yelled. "There are--are you out alone?" When Fili shrugged Kili grabbed the cigarette out of his hand and held it up in front of his face. "These will kill you too."

For a moment they stared at each other, Fili only half aware Glorfindel was there too. "You are such a pest," Fili said finally and he reached forward to drag Kili against his chest, ignoring the pain in his ribs or the fact that Kili used to be warmer.

 Glorfindel looked vaguely amused at the exchange, clearing his throat before he spoke, "Perhaps stepping inside where one can keep track of the angles of approach would be a better idea?"

Fili looked over Kili's shoulder at the blond vampire. "I'm assuming you're a vampire too," he said as Kili made a strangled sound against his chest, almost a sob. Fili's hand automatically went to his hair.

Glorfindel offered a very slight bow, "Glorfindel.  And you're Thorin's other nephew, unless I'm much mistaken."

"Yes," Fili agreed, holding a hand out around Kili. "Fili."

Shaking his hand, Glorfindel drew back again, "Kili's right, though, coming out alone does not fall very high on the self-preservation scale."

"It's one of those nights," Fili shrugged and looked back down at Kili. "Come on though, let's get inside." They managed to unhinge from each other enough to get through the door. Fili hissed as he sat down, Kili instantly pressed back against his side in the back booth.

"Are you okay?" Kili asked, eyes dark. "Where were you hurt last night?"

"Ribs, concussion," Fili said. "It's not that bad."

Glorfindel slid in opposite them, keeping an eye on the cafe through half-lidded eyes, "There are some that would argue that assessment."

Before Fili could say anything one way or another to that, Kili leaned over to drag his chin around to look at Fili's eyes. "You are such an idiot," he hissed. "You threw yourself on a demon without any weapons."

"Well, I got your sword, didn't I?" Fili returned.

"He had a metal claw for a hand!" Kili yelled, a little too loudly and hunched his shoulders, hoping no one was listening all that closely.

Glancing in Kili's direction, Glorfindel's brows rose slightly, but he left the brothers to their conversation, his attention returning to the front windows of the cafe--what he could see of them from where they were seated at least.

"And he was going to kill you," Fili continued, eyes sliding over to Glorfindel and back to Kili. “More permanently this time.”

"I thought you were supposed to do that," Kili said with a bit more heat than he meant and Fili swallowed hard.

"Yeah? And didn't you figure out I won't?" Fili asked. "For the love of fuck, Kili, it's not like I haven't noticed you lately. You're always hanging around after dark. If I was really ever capable of doing something, I think I would have by now."

Kili dropped his eyes and picked up Fili's hand instead, wincing as he traced a few of the scars from where bones had cut through the skin. "But I--"

"It's healed," Fili snapped shortly.

"Can you still use it?" Kili asked, not raising his head.

Fili let out a frustrated breath, shaking his head slightly. "Not very well," he admitted. "Not like I used to but that doesn't matter."

"How could it not matter?" Kili asked, raising his eyes finally. "I broke your hand. And you--when that librarian asked about the alliance--"

"What did you want me to say in answer to him?" Fili asked back, and they were turned to face each other on the booth seat, heads bent in close. "That everything was fine and I didn't care? You're still a vampire, Kili, and I almost wish that matters more to me than it does, but I can't say it doesn't bother me at all either." Kili's eyes dropped again. "Kili, please. You're still my brother. I miss you. Even if it's... different now. But I meant what I said. What I want or feel doesn't matter when it's so much bigger. It was true, even if a little skewed."

Kili wrapped both his hands around Fili's and for a second Fili tensed, remembering the pain of broken bones. "I miss you too," Kili said.

"It's still not nice to stalk," Fili murmured and Kili's hysteric laugh was abruptly cut off.

When they fell silent, Glorfindel looked Fili over appraisingly, "I saw the body with the metal arm,” he remarked, trying to understand the hunter. “You jumped on _that_ unarmed?  I'm not sure whether to be impressed or not yet."

"It was worse when he still had his head," Kili said, almost cheerfully and Fili turned to look at Glorfindel.

"I would imagine so," Glorfindel agreed amiably.  "Vicious creatures, commanders.  I assume that's what that one was."

"Pretty sure," Kili confirmed. "He talked like he was."

"Commander?" Fili asked, turning back to Kili.

"Demons tend to be mindless at that level," Kili said. "So there's one that keeps them controlled for some sort of plan. He's the biggest and meanest of any group."

"Oh," Fili said after a beat, touching the bruises on his neck without thinking about the action.

"So you faced down a commander and walked away," Glorfindel mused.  "Yes, I do believe I'm coming down on the side of impressed."

"Well I didn't kill him, so you might want to put that on hold," Fili snapped, not entirely sure what to make of the other vampire.

"No, your uncle killed him," Glorfindel said, focusing on Fili.  "Which is no mean feat."

"No, it's not," Fili agreed. But his hand tightened on Kili's hand. "How's your leg?"

"Fine," Kili said and it wasn't much of a lie. "Stuff like that--it's not such a big deal anymore I guess."

The older vampire rose from the booth, speaking mostly to Kili, "I'm going to take a turn around the block.  When I get back we probably ought to be on our way."

"Alright," Kili said and when they both watched him, still tilted toward each other it was horribly obvious how they were related.

Glorfindel's lips quirked upward briefly and he offered Fili an inclination of his head, "It was good to meet you."  With that he slipped out of the cafe, considering the street as a whole.

When he left they turned back to each other. "I know why you're going," Fili said. "But I don't want you to."

"Demons to find," Kili said, trying to make it light but his eyes were on the bruises that were so obvious on Fili's throat. "And kill," he added, darker.

"With the alliance though," Fili said. "Even if you're not allowed out alone, we'll see each other again. It might not even need to be sneaky."

"Or stupid," Kili said and Fili shrugged.

"It wasn't that stupid."

Kili snarled at him. "You went out alone, like this," and he touched Fili's neck, causing him to recoil slightly. "And you say it wasn't that stupid."

Fili sighed, shaking his head slightly. "So it was stupid, but I missed you."

"Would have meant nothing if you got killed," Kili pointed out. "Just be careful."

"If you do the same," Fili said, looking back at the sword strapped to Kili's back. "I already lost you once, yeah?"

Eyes sliding away, Kili swallowed and it only made the fact he had not been breathing more obvious. "Fili--"

"Don't," Fili cut him off. "Whatever you're going to say, and I can guess what it might be. We'll figure something out, and what happened before doesn't matter."

"I broke your hand," Kili said, voice breaking slightly. "I hadn't meant to but--"

"It doesn't matter," Fili said, intensity focused on Kili. "It doesn't. What matters is what is going to happen. Alright?"

For a moment Kili only looked at him before he finally nodded. "Alright."

Glorfindel swept back in a couple of minutes later, coming to a stop next to the booth and arching an eyebrow at them, "Have you extracted the necessary promises of caution?"

"More or less," Kili said, rising and Fili followed him. "Though I still can't say I understand Bofur," and Fili choked.

"I should not be surprised," he muttered, glaring slightly at his younger brother.

"Dare I ask?" Glorfindel asked, glancing between them.

"Nothing to say really," Fili said, hesitating at the door. Kili frowned but managed to swallow back any comments about Fili’s taste in men.

"We're walking you at least most of the way home," Kili snapped. "If you were stupid enough to come all the way out here there's no reason you won't be attacked on the way home."

Chuckling, Glorfindel stepped out into the night, "As Kili said." Fili paused again before he nodded, falling into step with Kili.

-0-

Bofur came clattering down the stairs from where he'd been looking for Fili in the upper floors, "Has anyone seen Fili?"

"No," Dwalin said, looking up and tensing.

That answer looked to be the last thing Bofur wanted to hear and he shifted onto his heels, chewing on his lower lip, "Damn, I was really hoping I'd just missed him while looking upstairs, but I've been around twice, and does anyone know who he might have gone out with?"

"No one was supposed to go out tonight," Thorin said, appearing around the corner from the kitchen. "Everyone was still here, last I checked."

Bofur swore mutedly, "Everyone but Fili."

"Where could he have gone?" Thorin demanded.

"I don't know," Bofur said, his voice sharp in his worry.

"Then someone had better start finding out," Thorin ground out, still angry from the night before at Fili and only feeling his rage increase now.

"Searches?" Balin asked from where he had followed Thorin in. "We'll need two or three parties to see about covering ground."

"Yes," Thorin ground out. "Dwalin--"

"I'll take Bifur and Gloin," he said. "We should travel in no less than packs of three."

Balin moved forward, "I can take Bofur and Dori, if Dori's up to it."

Thorin wavered for a second, not willing to push Dori out the door. "Bombur, or Dis perhaps," he offered after a beat and stopped when the door pushed open. Everyone in the hallway tensed, hands going to their weapons until Fili stepped through.

Bofur started moving first, "Where were you?"

"I," Fili looked around at where everyone was gathered, having hoped to slip back in. "Just for a smoke."

"You weren't on the grounds," Thorin said. "And you know better, you have the attic for that."

"You were out, off the grounds, for a _smoke_?" Bofur frowned, not believing that for a minute.

"Uh," Fili said and took half a step back when Thorin approached him.

"And you went out alone," Bofur supplied, watching Fili.

Before Fili could come up with another excuse Thorin grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him down the hallway toward his office. Bofur followed, stopping and waiting outside the office, leaning against the wall.

Thorin dropped Fili against a chair, ignoring his huff of pain. "What were you thinking?" Thorin demanded, towering over his nephew. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

"No," Fili said without hesitating, and they both paused for a long moment, recalling the last time he had been asked that question and Thorin's shoulders slowly relaxed and he leaned back against his desk, covering his face with a hand.

"Then why did you go out on your own?"

Shifting, Fili looked back up at him. "Kili's been watching me," he said and Thorin tensed again. "Since he broke my hand. I wanted to talk to him."

"You--" Thorin bit his anger off. "And did you see him?"

"Yes," Fili said. "We talked."

Thorin leaned forward, bracing both his hands on either side of the chair. "He's a vampire," he said, voice dropping. "He's not the same as he used to be."

"He is though," Fili said. "He's still Kili. He still bitches to me about smoking, he growls at me about being stupid and has the same wide eyed look and--he's still Kili."

Thorin shook his head. "You're young," he said. "You don't understand what vampires are. They act like humans and talk like humans until they stop. Until they decide they've had enough. I can't claim to know about souls or some higher purpose but they don't feel like we do. Their emotions can be switched off and they can kill. Do not mistake that creature for Kili."

"You're wrong," Fili said, voice strained and Thorin pushed himself back, back aching.

"I almost hope I am," he said and Fili swallowed, wobbling himself back to his feet.

"If that's all?" he asked, strained and Thorin nodded, Fili sweeping out of his office.

Bofur fell into step with Fili, catching him by the arm, "Are you going to tell me what you were doing?"

"You were waiting?" Fili asked, sounding offended. "To yell at me more?"

"You left without telling anyone where you went!"  Bofur replied sharply, "Yes, I was waiting."

"And I returned unharmed," Fili said, heading for the stairs and trying to avoid everyone else.

Bofur followed close on his heels, "But you might not have."

"But I did," Fili said, not mentioning the vampire escort. Kili had almost marched him up to the actual door, though Fili convinced them he could walk the last block within their sight alone.

"Damn it, Fili," Bofur snapped.  "You went out _alone_.  After last night!"

"And look at how fine I am," Fili said, snapping the door open to Bofur's room and pausing at how automatic it was for him to go there. He hesitated, almost turning back around and going to his own room.

"Why would you do that?" Bofur demanded, waiting for Fili to make up his mind where they were having this fight.

"I needed to talk to Kili," Fili said, still unsure.

"So you what?  Went and waited for him on your own, after dark, with demons roaming around?"

"More or less," Fili admitted.

"Goddamnit, Fili!  I don't care if you did manage to survive that was a new level of stupid idea."

"It's not your job to protect me either!" Fili yelled. "I am not breakable."

"Really?"  Bofur scowled at him before tapping him very lightly just over his broken rib, "Because currently you're looking like it!"

Fili hissed, leaning back. "I survived that too."

"You're still injured," Bofur replied, jaw tensing.  "You could have died last night and then you went out without even telling anyone tonight?"

"I needed to see my brother," Fili said, voice dropping.

Bofur fell very still at that, "You saw him then?"

"Yes," Fili nodded and his eyes slid away.

"What if you hadn't found him?" Bofur asked, trying to keep his voice even.

“All things considered I hadn't really thought that far."

"You could have at least told me where you were going, or, or something."

"You would have stopped me," Fili said, almost daring him to disagree.

Bofur opened his mouth to protest, but responded honestly instead, "As anyone with any sense would have!  The last time you met him, and last night is not counting at this point, he _broke your hand_ and nearly bit you!"

"Well it depends on if you mean met as in encountered or as in talked," Fili said and shifted backward slightly.

“What do you mean by that?" Bofur asked, his voice dropping.

"He’s been following me since we last met," Fili admitted, not meeting his eyes. "At night or in the tree out back. And he's never once tried to harm me and after last night--"

"After last night nothing!  He's been _stalking_ you and you didn't think to say anything?"  Bofur's eyes narrowed, "Damit, Fili, he threatened to turn you that night."

"And he _hasn't_ ," Fili said, chin tilted back as he looked up, eyes narrowed.

Bofur's hands tightened into fists and he forced himself to relax, "But he could have."

"And didn't," Fili returned, leaning hard on the door to Bofur's room. "He didn't and I'm sorry that you think me so incapable of taking care of myself but he didn't and won't."

"That is not what I meant," Bofur said, his anger starting to fade slowly toward a weariness he was accustomed to.

 "Then what was?"

"The idea of you dying scares the hell out of me," Bofur said.  "Doesn't matter that it didn't happen right now because the fact that it's been so close so often right now just," he broke off and shook his head.

"Can I stay here tonight?" Fili asked, voice low as he watched Bofur.

"Do you want to?" Bofur asked, his temper down to a low simmer, but it was still there.

"It's your room," Fili said. "If you do not want me, I should not stay but, yes... I would like to."

Bofur looked away and then nodded, "Then yes, you can stay here tonight."

"Please don't say that if you're just humoring me."

"I'm not just humoring you," Bofur said, meeting Fili's gaze again.

Fili couldn't manage to hold his eyes, pushing the door open instead and sliding through. Bofur hesitated in the hall, drawing a deep breath before entering his own room and closing the door again.

Picking up a pillow from the couch, Fili held it against his chest like he would sit down. Instead he remained standing, not turning to look at Bofur. "I almost wish I could find a way to apologize. At least a way I would mean."

"I'd rather you didn't," Bofur said, picking up his sling where he had left it when he'd realized Fili wasn't in the house and that they would likely be going out to look for him.  He slid it on, grimacing slightly at the pull on his upper arm.

Fili breathed, concentrating for a moment only on the feel of his lungs and chest moving, the pain of his ribs, and recalling how odd it was to hold Kili and realize he wasn't breathing. "Why do you care about me?"

"What?" Bofur looked at him in confusion.

"I'm moronically devoted to someone who's dead, I can't take care of myself and I think I need to start taking calcium supplements for how easy it is to break my bones," Fili said, still holding the pillow and not looking over. "And I'm used to making people angry but not you."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"  Bofur muttered under his breath, reaching out to catch Fili by the shoulder and yank him around to face him.

"Not really, no," Fili said, pillow between them. "I think I get it and then I don't and... I don't."

"I care about you because I do," Bofur said.  "I don't know what more to tell you.  There isn't as much of a 'why' to it as you think."

"I wish it was easier," Fili said and finally met his eyes again. "But that probably wouldn't be a good thing either, huh?"

"No, I don't think easier would be a good thing in this case, not really anyhow."

"Do you love me?" Fili asked before he could stop.

Bofur's eyes widened, "I, what?"

"Oh shit," Fili stepped back. "You don't have to answer that, I shouldn't have asked."

"No, no you don't get to take back that question," Bofur said, shaking his head.  "I just....I didn't think you'd ask it."

Fili shifted uncomfortably, dropping the pillow back on the couch. "What does that mean?"

"It means what I said.  I didn't think you'd ask that question.  At least not yet," Bofur paused.  "Because it's big emotions tied up in small words," he looked at Fili for a long moment before he nodded, "but I do love you."

Fili sat down hard. "Oh."

Bofur rocked back on his heels slightly at that, not sure he was willing to pursue that response at the moment. "You're right," Fili managed. "Big emotions for small words. Please come here?"

Finally moving over, Bofur sat down beside Fili, glancing at him, "Why did you ask if you weren't ready for whichever answer?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Fili muttered, and shifted around so he could draw his legs up and lean against Bofur's side. “Fuck knows why.”

Bofur wrapped his arm around Fili's shoulders and let his head fall back against the back of the couch, "I just need to know you're being careful."

"I truly wish it was easy for me to give that assurance."

"I know," Bofur sighed softly.  "And so I'm not going to ask for it, not really.  I just want to ask you to try?"

"So no more running out at night alone?" Fili asked, trying to tease.

Bofur offered him a glance that clearly indicated that the attempt fell short, "No more running out at night alone."

Fili looked down before back up. "Alright. I will try." Shifting forward, Fili pressed their mouths together, his hands bracing on Bofur's knees.

Bofur leaned into the kiss, his hand moving to cup the back of Fili's head. Scooting closer, Fili brought both hands up to frame Bofur's jaw, tugging him closer. His arm moving to Fili's waist, careful of his ribs, Bofur parted his lips and slid nearer.

For the first time in a while the kiss did not feel awkward to Fili, instead it felt like a place he might consider staying. Bofur drew back after a moment to catch his breath, resting his forehead on Fili's.

"Should come to bed," Fili said but he dragged Bofur's face to his again instead, pressing as close as he could with Bofur's arm in a sling and his ribs hurting.

Bofur hummed into the kiss, pulling away moments later, "Come on, then."

Fili stumbled up to his feet, not entirely steady but pulling Bofur with him. Catching Fili around the waist again, Bofur kissed him and drew him back toward the bed.

Fili's breath caught, twining his arms around Bofur's shoulders. "I just," he started between kisses. "Don't think you can tumble me into bed. Otherwise, carry on."

Bofur chuckled quietly at that, shaking his head.  The back of his legs hit the edge of the bed and he sat down, drawing Fili down with him. Settling down on his lap carefully, Fili bent his head to keep kissing him, hands going through his hair.

Breath hitching at that, Bofur traced his hand down Fili's spine as he tilted his head back to change the angle of the kiss.

"We never did," Fili started and stopped, shifting slightly and dragging his tongue along the top of Bofur's mouth.

"Never what?" Bofur asked, when he finally drew back again, his face flushed and his voice rough.

"Well, you know," Fili said and blushed. He rolled his hips slightly instead of trying to speak anymore.

Bofur whined in the back of his throat as his body responded to that motion, "Your ribs are still healing."  His protest felt weak to his own ears, and his hand moved to rest on Fili's hip.

"And your arm is in a sling," Fili pointed out, hands still behind Bofur's head.

"Guess we'll have to be creative to avoid worsening either of those things," Bofur said after a moment, leaning forward to kiss Fili deeply again.

"Well then, it's to a good thing you are," Fili said, dragging his hands along Bofur's back and breathing deeply. "Creative, I mean."

Bofur grinned, laying back and dragging Fili with him, "Between the two of us I think we'll manage."

Fili followed, shifting around until he could breathe more easily and grinned, hands braced on Bofur's chest. "We'll manage," he agreed.

-0-

Dori entered his library with the intention of looking for information on lesser known and unnamed religions and froze when he saw Ori there, "What are you doing?"

"Reading," Ori said without looking up from the leather bond tome he had open on the table, runes scrawled along the pages and spine.

"On which topic?" Dori asked, his voice almost too calm.

Ori stilled, eyes only slowly coming up. "Spells, more or less."

"I seem to recall saying the books on magic were off limits."

"You might have said something about that," Ori said, going back to reading and ignoring his brother.

Dori crossed the room in a couple of steps, resting a hand on the table next to the book Ori was reading, "I certainly said something about that.  And I'm growing truly sick of having what I said ignored."

"Maybe you should reconsider what you say then," Ori said, not looking over at him.

"There is no reason for you to need the magic books."

"That's one opinion," Ori said, turning one of the pages over.

Dori grit his teeth, and drew a deep breath before speaking again, "Yes, you're right, it is.  But isn't the practical enough for you?  There isn't anything in those tomes that is of use."

Ori finally stopped and looked up at him. "Not of use?"

"Not with the risks that come from the magic, it's not."

"That's my choice to make," Ori said.

"And I'm supposed to sit idly by while you dabble in this?"

"Not sure what else you're expecting to do," Ori replied, resting his hands on the pages for a moment before turning the next one.

Dori raked a hand through his hair, "Why are you insistent on this?  Damn it, Ori, magic, if it exists in the way some of these books claim is too dangerous."

"You still don't believe in it?" Ori asked and his voice had never varied since Dori entered, the same level tone.

"I believe in physical things, not," he broke off.  "Why are we even having this conversation again?"

"Because you started it."

"So I'm supposed to ignore the fact that you're doing exactly what I told you not to?"

Ori shrugged. "You can ignore whatever you like."

"I'm trying to keep you safe," Dori snapped, shoving off from the table.

Ori suddenly slammed the book shut. "And what a bang-up job you've ever done of that! You couldn't keep Nori safe and you can never protect me either!"

Dori's eyes widened and he took a step back at that, "I..."  He recovered quickly temper spiking, "I have done my best for you.  The very best I know how!"

"By coddling me!" Ori yelled. "By making sure I am incapable of protecting myself, that I'm weak. How is that protecting me?"

"And I should have changed that sooner, but that does not change the fact that the book in front of you is a danger in and of itself!  And it's one no amount of training would counter, so don't even start on that tack."

"Maybe I would have never looked at it if I had any other option!" Ori snapped. "Maybe this has nothing to do with you."

Dori's eyes narrowed, "And what missing option sent you to the magic tomes?"

"You think we can fight against demons with sticks and arrows?" Ori asked, voice dropping and jaw set.

"I' think we've a decent chance with honest steel and that magic and demons shouldn't come near each other," Dori responded, every line of his body tense.

"And if you're wrong?"

"Then why does it have to be _you_?"

"You want Fili to try?" Ori asked. "Or Balin? Most of us are too set in our ways, incapable of figuring out new tricks. I'm doing this because I can, because I'm smart enough."

"I don't doubt you being smart enough, but I don't like you being the line of defense we have," Dori said.

"It's not really your choice," Ori said, voice dropping back down and turning chilly.

"Fine, go ahead and continue with this, this knife you're deciding to walk," Dori snapped, unable to articulate the fear that he was going to have to bury both of his younger brothers by the time this reached an end.

“That's it?" Ori asked, almost a sneer. "That's all you have to say?"

"Nothing I say is going to have the slightest impact.  You've apparently made your decision no matter what the end result is likely to be."  He paused, "But are you really so anxious to join Nori?"

Ori's hands tightened and he rocked back slightly like Dori had struck him. "Have you always given up this easily?"

"I'm too tired to fight with you about this, Ori," he said, shaking his head.  "I fought too much with Nori and I can't do the same with you."

Mouth thinning, Ori scooped the book up against his chest. "Then you have no right to lecture me."

Dori's jaw tensed, but he turned away to search for the books he had come looking for rather than address Ori further.

Fingers shaking around the book, Ori swallowed hard as he watched Dori before he turned abruptly, book still pressed against his chest and stormed for the door. Hearing him leave, Dori rested his hand on the book spines, drawing a shaky breath and feeling his emotions crack further around the edges.

Thorin watched Ori slam out of the house. "Ori--!" he started to call and then stopped, considering it was still morning and there was plenty of light left. Instead he turned to look the way Ori had come, toward the library. Pushing the door open, he paused a moment. "Dori?"

Dori straightened, steeling himself and doing his best to keep himself as calm as ever before turning, "Yes?"

"Should someone go after Ori?"

He nodded very slightly, "I can't, but someone should."

Thorin nodded. "Can I do anything for you?"

"Turn back time?" Dori offered before shaking his head.  "No, there's nothing that can be done.  Ori's decided he's going to be studying magic because it's the best defense he can think of against demons."

Thorin froze and tensed. "Magic?"

Dori nodded almost imperceptibly, "He won't listen to me, so short of sealing the books away at which point he'd find some other route to them I'm sure, I can't dissuade him."

"Does he understand what he's playing with?" Thorin asked, taking a step forward.

"I can't get it across to him," Dori said, shaking his head.  "He thinks I'm still coddling him."

"You have a long time," Thorin admitted. "But this is different."

"I know I have and it was a mistake to do so," Dori replied.  "He just won't listen to me about anything like that any longer."

"We'll figure something out," Thorin assured. "I'll see if anyone can find him."

"Thank you," he managed, feeling like he had failed severely somewhere along the line.

Thorin hesitated, leaning out the door and calling Gloin to him, whispering quickly to ask Dwalin to go and make sure Ori was safe before slowly approaching Dori, hesitating a step away.

"I don't know how to do this," Dori murmured.  "He grew up when I didn't realize it."

Thorin reached a hand out to touch his shoulder. "He grew up well, though. If headstrong."

"If I'd actually trained him perhaps I would be fractionally less worried about that headstrong part," Dori admitted, pausing before reaching up to cover Thorin's hand on his shoulder for the briefest of moments.

Thorin squeezed his shoulder. "He'll be fine," he said, though too uncertain to be firm.

Dori managed a wan smile at that, "Of course he will.  Why wouldn't he be?"

"No reason," Thorin managed. He had never been good at lying.

"I can't lose him too," Dori finally said.

"I know," Thorin said.

Dori paused before finally stepping back, away from Thorin's touch, "I should, I should finish the research I came in here for."

"Alright," Thorin agreed, also stepping back. "I'll talk to you later, then."

"Thank you," Dori said again, looking away from Thorin for the first time since he'd turned around when Thorin entered.

Thorin smiled faintly. "And I do believe you mean that," he said, considering the number of times he had had to cut off his own thanks, it felt odd to hear it from someone else.

Dori looked back at him, "What?"

"You're welcome," Thorin said, and reached forward to pull Dori's forehead against his own, a gesture of affection he had picked up from Dwalin many years ago. With that he stepped back toward the door. Dori gaped after him for a moment before swallowing and turning back to the books again.

-0-

Ori stopped on a side street, leaning against the stone wall for a long moment, the book still held against his chest. For a long moment he didn't move, considering before he dropped the book and flipped through the pages. Once he located the spell he wanted, he sat down and read through the page several times before trying to form the words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updating this while sick may be a questionable choice but here we go.
> 
> Thorin: Better at dealing with other people's grief since forever. 
> 
> Certain lines from "Let the Monster Rise" from Repo the Genetic Opera are good mood setting for Dori and Ori's fight.


	17. I've Been Getting Between You and Your Temper for Twenty Years

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic now comes with it's [own soundtrack! ](http://8tracks.com/victoriousscarf/some-legends-are-told-some-turn-to-dust-or-to-gold)

Elrohir sat on the bottom step of the stairs, his back against the balustrade and a book in his hands.  He glanced up at his twin, marking his place, "You know, four centuries on and the only thing I miss is the occasional glance of natural daylight."

"Really?" Elladan asked, shifting over to put his head in Elrohir's lap.

Combing his fingers through Elladan's hair, Elrohir returned to the book, "Really. The sunlight always caught your hair just right."

"I can't believe you remember," Elladan said, though he reached a hand up to twine around Elrohir's hair, tugging the strands slightly.

"Other things fade, but memories of you were the first thing I got and they stay with me."

Elladan reached up, sliding his fingers behind Elrohir's neck and tugging him down. "Has the end of the world made you feel sentimental?"

"Poetic moreso," Elrohir said, bending nearly in half to kiss his twin.

Elladan hummed, shifting around so he could push up on his elbows. They were still twined around each other when the door suddenly slammed open, sunlight flooding into the room but not reaching the stairs.

"Gandalf?" Elladan asked, snapping instantly into an upright position and remembering the time Gandalf had almost turned him to ash by throwing open the door. His jaw dropped when he realized it was not Gandalf that slammed the door behind him, but Ori.

"Ori!"  Elrohir yelped, his book dropping from his hands as he tried to disentangle himself fully from Elladan, "What by the stars are you doing here?"

Ori nodded to both of them and carefully stepped around them, heading up the stairs without a second glance.

"Where is he going?" Elladan asked, managing to get to his feet and helping his twin up.

"I don't know, but he's wandering around the mansion like he knows where he's going, and that worries me," Elrohir responded, starting up the stairs after Ori.

Elladan followed, the sound of the banging door having caught the attention of several of the other vampires, appearing on various floors to look at the stairs. But Ori seemed to know exactly where he was going, slamming open the door to Galadriel's study as she rose to see who was causing such a commotion.

"You know how to close the portals," Ori said and Galadriel stilled.

"Yes," she said, settling backward but not sitting behind her desk.

"I assume you know other magic," Ori said, approaching the desk and stopping on the other side, tilting his head back slightly to meet her eyes as she arched one perfectly formed blonde eyebrow.

Celeborn's eyebrows rose sharply at that from where he had been speaking with his wife before Ori entered.  He glanced past the hunter to see Elrohir and Elladan skidding to a stop at the doorway.  Elrohir opened his mouth to explain, but Celeborn shook his head once to cut him off.

"I know many forms of magic," Galadriel allowed. "But what interest is that to a hunter?"

"I need you to teach me," Ori said, voice masking any fear he felt, body tense and her face registered shock.

Celeborn blinked twice at that, "And what cause would we have for that instruction to occur?"

"Because I cannot do it alone," Ori said and Galadriel's brows just went higher.

"And how did you find us?" she asked, looking beyond Ori to where the twins stood in the doorway, Elladan's jaw dropped open and he was still having trouble closing it.

"A single spell out of a book that took me four times to get correct hardly suffices for what I need," Ori said, shifting back slightly. "You know the world is ending--Elladan and Elrohir have been most clear about that," and Elladan went pale behind him, eyes darting between Celeborn and Galadriel. "And you want to work together."

Celeborn's gaze drifted to Elladan and Elrohir, "Fascinating how much you know already." Glorfindel slipped between the twins, mostly ignoring them both as he stepped into the office behind Ori.

Ori darted a glance back at them. "So the younger generation is sneaky on both sides of the fence."

"Apparently," Galadriel said, voice smooth and she rested the tips of her fingers on the desk, leaning forward slightly. "Why should I offer training to you?" she asked again and Ori rocked back, pausing.

"Because," he said slowly. "This threat is bigger than any of us. Because we need to trust each other. Because I have to do something. Because I saw you close the portal and I know you have the power. Because you might not be able to close all the portals yourself."

Galadriel slowly smiled. "You say it took you four times to complete the spell? A standard locator, I would presume?"

"As far as I can tell," Ori admitted, not actually understanding the spell he cast.

"And how often have you done magic before?" she asked.

"Never," he said, voice dropping down again. "My brother always said it was too dangerous. I—I think he's right, at least if I'm on my own. And you're the only person I could think to turn to."

"You performed a locator spell that led you into a nest of vampires without having done magic before?"  Celeborn looked at Ori with something akin to disbelief in his expression, though to anyone who knew him his tone was impressed.

Glorfindel's lips quirked up slightly at that, "My lady, my lord, if I may? I'm sure you can sense it in him."

The corners of Galadriel's mouth only curled further up as Ori started to turn around. "Sense what?" he asked and stopped when he recognized the vampire with a jolt. "You're the one—”

Glorfindel's smile widened at that recognition, "Crawled his way out of the last portal?  Yes that's me."  He looked past Ori to Galadriel, "I'm sure you've already reached your own decision, milady.  But I'd like to put in my word toward suggesting he be taught.  This one has a spine of steel and the power under his skin was simmering well before I returned to this plane."

Ori opened his mouth to protest that. "I'm not--"

"I think," Galadriel cut him off. "That there is something to your arguments. You're right, I can hardly close all the portals on my own. But do you truly understand the risks of what you ask?"

Turning back around, Ori swallowed. "No," he admitted. "Not truly. But I will not be swayed."

"Indeed not," Galadriel said. "You'll need proper supplies," she mused, tapping a finger on her chin.

"Times and places for any training as well," Celeborn said.  "And a more concrete awareness of just exactly what this might cost you."

"That will be the first lesson," Galadriel agreed.

"Perhaps a lesson in what is to be considered too reckless as well," Elrond spoke from the doorway, where he had appeared after being alerted to the commotion.

"There isn't much that is in a time like this," Glorfindel responded, offering Elrond a brief glance.

"A hunter departing from home to seek out a vampire older than his family's tales might fall into that category," Elrond said.

Ori glanced around, swallowing hard to see another vampire. He felt like he might start suffocating with so many elder vampires, as if their power was pressing against his chest bone. He couldn’t decide if it was simply an anxiety attack or if he actually was picking something up. "But if I learned how not to be reckless, I wouldn't be here."

Glorfindel chuckled at that, "He makes a compelling case for recklessness."

Swallowing again, Ori did not look away from Elrond. "If we aren't reckless now, we could lose everything."

"A touch of caution to temper recklessness will not seal our defeat," Elrond returned.

"You hope," Ori returned and Elladan had to cover his mouth to keep in his hysterical laugh.

Elrond glanced briefly at Elladan, quirking an eyebrow at him though he didn't change expression otherwise before turning back to Ori, "Since you seem so versed in this, what would you suggest, young master hunter?"

Ori's hands clenched and relaxed by his side. "I--" he started and felt tongue tied. His facade started to crack. "I think it is better to fight with all we have, even if it means putting ourselves at risk. Better to go all out than to fail."

The dark-haired vampire looked him over at that before finally allowing himself the faintest of smiles, "Well said."

"Come," Galadriel said, resting a hand on his shoulder and making him jump. "We should talk. Elrond, please do not frighten him more."

"I'm not frightened," Ori protested weakly.

Elrond inclined his head to her, stepping back after a moment, "As you wish, milady."

"I'm not," Ori protested again.

"There's no shame in fear," Celeborn spoke.  "Especially when in a dangerous situation."

Ori looked down and Galadriel lightly pushed on his shoulder. "Come. We will talk downstairs where there is more space."

"Why do we need more space?" Ori asked, looking back up at her.

"Well, for practical demonstrations of course," she said, ushering him out of the room in front of her with a steady hand on his shoulder.

Celeborn's lips curved upward at that before he turned his attention to Elladan and Elrohir, "Meanwhile, the two of you and I are going to adjourn to the south study and talk."

"We are?" Elladan asked. "What could we possibly have to talk about?"

"Exactly how long you've been meeting with the young hunters.  Legolas mentioned one of them yesterday as well.  Which makes me curious about what else is going on that's been kept unmentioned,"  Celeborn replied as Glorfindel slipped out of the room to either find Erestor, locate Kili, or observe the Lady's training with Ori--he had yet to make up his mind.

"Oh," Elladan managed.

Outside the door, Kili had been coming down the stairs when Ori and Galadriel emerged and he froze. "Ori!" he called and Ori tensed to look up and see him. "What happened? Surely you're not--" Kili said, almost flying down the stairs in haste.

"No," Ori said, catching his hand so that Kili could feel his heartbeat. "Still human, see?"

"Then what are you doing here?" Kili asked, rocking back slightly but still holding on to Ori's hand. Galadriel stepped to one side, hands folded around each other in front of her and watching the young vampire and hunter quietly.

Glorfindel approached, "He's come for instruction from the Lady, lad." Galadriel glanced at him before back to the other two.

"Dori is going to kill you," Kili said and Ori ducked his chin down.

Legolas emerged from the upstairs hall, pausing on the stairs and blinking rapidly, "Ori?"

Glorfindel looked up, his eyebrows arching, "Apparently all the younglings know him.  Interesting."

The younger blond ignored him, descending the stairs, focused on Ori, "I was sorry to hear about your brother."

Kili froze. "Nori," he asked and Ori only nodded, the motion quick and jerky.

"Are you--" Legolas broke off shaking his head, "No, that's a ridiculous question.  What are you doing here, though?"

"I want to know how to close the portals," Ori said, steel in his voice and Kili jumped slightly, looking over at him.

Legolas' eyes widened at Ori's tone and he rocked back slightly, "Oh.  Cut them off before they start?"

"It's a good plan, and a good move," Glorfindel said.

Ori nodded. "Anything. To get the devourer through, they're going to have to open at least two more portals to gather enough energy to get one big enough for him to get through." He had not slept much since Nori died, reading until he stumbled around to the magic books.

"And if they open at sundown again, we won't be able to reach it in time," Glorfindel said, before finally adding a word of caution.  "You're dealing with large amounts of magic in a situation like this."

"Yes," Ori agreed, a tremor going through him. "I'll do what I have to."

Galadriel spoke suddenly. "That determination will possibly be the only reason you are able."

Glorfindel turned his attention to Legolas and Kili, "I'm beginning to wonder how all of you know him and have missed the power he possesses, as every one of you has seemed surprised by him."

Ori jumped in surprise, frowning at Glorfindel's back and Kili raised a hand. "Uh, in my defense? We grew up together and he scared me, but you sorta forget his scarier moments when he's wrapped up in sweaters and scarves and shoving tea at your face."

"I'm not--" Ori started to protest and ducked his nose down to hide in the scarf he wore instead of continuing.

Legolas shifted slightly, "I wasn't looking?"

"Spine of steel couched in...normally one would say velvet, but I suppose knitwear will act in its stead here, and you didn't notice?"  Glorfindel looked at Legolas and shook his head, "We have work to do on your observational skills."

"He was distracted," Ori offered, nose still hidden.

Glorfindel's brow arched at that and he glanced at Ori before chuckling, "Oh the courtship.  That’s right."

Ori hummed. "As I ended up being dragged to that--yes, the courtship." He glanced at Kili again before down. "I heard that Fili saw you."

"You did?" Kili asked in some surprise.

"He and Bofur ended up having their fight about it mostly in the hallway," Ori said. "I don't think Fili is used to yelling, he doesn't realize his voice carries almost as much as Thorin." Kili winced. "I'm glad you're talking though," Ori continued. "More or less. He's not been doing well."

"Do you know how to wield a sword or knives?" Glorfindel asked abruptly, having been considering the way Ori moved and carried himself.

Ori startled back. "I--I've sorta figured out holy water pepper spray and the cross bow but no."

"My mother trained you?" Kili asked in shock, recognizing the idea of holy water pepper spray as her's.

"Well, as that's the case, if you've still enough energy once you're done with your magic practice and training for the day, we should see about teaching you the sword as well," Glorfindel said.

Ori blinked rapidly at him and glanced at Galadriel, who only smiled serenely. "I, uh," Ori said. "Not today, unless it's a short lesson. I stormed out of the house. I need to think of actual excuses for being gone this long."

Glorfindel inclined his head in acknowledgement, "At a later date then."

Ori didn't dare say no, so he only nodded.

"Why, Galadriel," a lazy voice said. "I thought you did not believe in turning hunters?" Both Ori and Galadriel looked up to where Thranduil was leaning against the railing the floor up, mouth curled up.

"Yes," she agreed. "Which is why he is not turned, simply here on his own accord."

"His own--" Thranduil started and stopped, looking at Ori through narrowed eyes. "I did not know the hunters produced such anymore."

Legolas offered his sire a narrow-eyed look of his own, still grating from their last interactions, "Your premonition appears to have been slightly skewed, Ada.  Or perhaps misinterpreted."

Thranduil stared at him for a long moment, Galadriel's head turning first to Legolas, to him and back.

"What does that mean?" Ori asked softly, leaning more toward Kili who was frozen, fists clenched.

"It means that the next sentence from any of them is likely to end badly," Glorfindel responded, his voice muted.

Legolas tilted his chin back slightly, enough to offer defiance but no submission, his gaze never leaving Thranduil.

"Oh," Ori managed, taking a half step back and sinking further down into his scarf.

"A premonition?" Galadriel asked, voice silky smooth.

"Of a sort," Thranduil answered, glancing first at Legolas and then back to Ori.

"He offered it as justification," Legolas said, simply.  "Something he'd seen."

Galadriel took a step up the stairs and Thranduil did not move, simply watching her. "The mirror is mine," Galadriel said. "Because I can control it. It was foolhardy and stupid to look at it."

"Perhaps," he agreed and Kili's mouth had thinned into a hard line, Ori watching him and marveling at the differences between their own home and this large house filled with corners and secrets.

Legolas watched Galadriel and his sire, taking a half-step back, to run solidly into Glorfindel's hand.  He glanced at the older vampire who murmured, almost inaudibly, "You set this in motion, you hold your ground as it takes place."

"Then why take such a risk?" Galadriel asked, tilting her head back to watch Thranduil closely.

"You have noticed what we are facing I presume?" Thranduil asked and Kili looked like he was about to vibrate apart in his rage.

For a moment Ori watched him before looking back at the older vampires and then Glorfindel, choosing to slide up to the later. "What fight just started?" he asked. "Unless that's some secret vampire thing that you'd have to kill me to tell me, then I'd rather not hear."

"What?  Oh, no nothing so dire as that," Glorfindel said before answering the question.  "The lady has a mirror that offers glimpses of things past present and future.  It would appear that Thranduil has looked in the mirror without her permission or supervision."  He glanced toward Kili, "And I would assume acted based on what he saw."

Ori looked at Thranduil for a long moment before registering Legolas' original comment about turning the wrong hunter and he buried his face into his scarf, covering his nose. "Oh."

Thranduil for his part looked between Kili and Ori, finally glancing at Legolas and arching one brow at the blond before turning back to Galadriel. "If this is to continue, I suggest it happening later."

"Indeed," she said, turning back to Ori and sweeping down the stairs. "Come along."

Legolas saw the way Ori shifted and finally processed exactly why Kili seemed more eager to kill him than usual, turning to his sire's other childe and starting to speak, "Whatever I said, you've misunderstood what I meant."

"Did I?" Kili ground out and before Ori followed Galadriel he grabbed Kili's hand and dragged him with him.

"Br--Calm down," he said and Kili looked at him sideways. "Shut up, I caught myself before I told you to breath."

"You don't need to interfere," Kili hissed back.

"Oh shut up, I've been getting between you and your temper for twenty years, I don't care if you're scarier now."

Legolas glanced at Glorfindel who shook his head at him, "I cannot express my 'no' thoroughly enough.  You made this mess, you get to repair it as best you're able on your own."

"I," Kili could be heard still going down the stairs. "I'm scarier now?"

"Something about being able to tear my throat out, yeah," Ori said, but he hadn't dropped Kili's hand yet. "It's an adjustment." He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and Galadriel seemed amused enough to wait for him as he turned around, dragging Kili with him so they both faced down Legolas.

Legolas hesitated before speaking quickly, "I did not in the least mean that he should have turned Ori.  Frankly he shouldn't have turned either of you.  What I meant was that, based off what he told me, he saw the need for a hunter's aid.  With Ori showing up, it's possible he misunderstood what he saw and, and I am not digging myself out of this hole am I?"

Kili's eyes remained narrowed but Ori's shoulders relaxed slightly. "Well, you have a shovel," he offered. “Not sure you know what you’re doing with it yet.”

"I'm sorry I dug it in the first place," he said, looking toward Kili.  "I didn't mean it how it sounded, I really didn't."

"Well that doesn't make it better," Kili snapped. "Any of it."

Legolas paused, rocking back on his heels slightly, "No, no it doesn't."

Ori nudged Kili and he looked away with a snarl. "Come on. Do I need to tell Gimli you killed his boyfriend or can you work this out?"

"We already know I'm horrible with apologies and social interactions, but I am sorry.  I shouldn't have brought it up, probably ever, much less here and now," Legolas offered.

Kili scowled. "I won't kill him," he said finally and Ori nodded.

"That's good," he offered and squeezed Kili's hand again. "Be careful," he said.

Legolas watched Ori go to join Galadriel and glanced back to Kili, deciding it was probably in his best interest to avoid both Kili and Thranduil for a while, no matter what Kili said to Ori.

For a moment Kili stared at him, and his smile when he finally gave it did not reach his eyes. "You really are socially incapacitated aren't you?"

Jaw tensing ever so slightly at that, Legolas offered him a narrow-eyed look, "As we've established."

"It's really your only excuse so I'd take it."

"I'm certainly not arguing that," Legolas said.

"Good," Kili said and then took half a step back. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

Legolas nodded, hesitating for a moment, "Well, I'm sure you'll be able to find me when you do."  With those words he slipped away quickly.

Ori followed Galadriel into another side room, that stood mostly empty with heavy black curtains over the windows. "This is actually sorta frightening," he said. "Being led around like this I mean--"

"I will cause you no harm," she said, seemingly satisfied and turning back around. "But magic, especially young magic, needs space. Any harm that comes to you will be from yourself."

"That's," he started, swallowing hard. "Really not reassuring."

Glorfindel stepped into the room after them, closing the door, "Magic shouldn't be reassuring."

"And there goes the last glimmers of it I had," Ori said, trying to sound light but he swallowed hard, shifting slightly and hiding his hands in his scarf, hunching his shoulders down to appear smaller.

"It shouldn't be reassuring, but that is not to say that you can't handle it, or learn to control it," Glorfindel said, looking Ori over again.

"Alright," Ori agreed with a firm little nod but he still stood as if to make himself as small as possible.

Galadriel leaned back against the wall, watching him and crossing her ankles. "The first thing you must understand is that magic requires something to fuel it. It's why talismans, potions, the like are used. Anything to fuel the magic that isn't your own life force."

"And when you closed the portal," Ori said and paused, realization dawning. "The twins killed a demon."

"Yes," she nodded. "We used that demon's life force, and the flesh of it to close the portal."

"The stronger the spell, the higher the price or the more potent the fuel that's needed," Glorfindel added.

"So something like the locator spell," Ori said.

"Was stupid to try with no focus," Galadriel said. "If you do many spells without something to focus or fuel it, you'll kill yourself young. Magic burns up your life force."

"And as vampires?" he asked, looking over at her. "Do you have a life force to burn? Because I'm assuming what you mean with that, is every spell I do without something to help it along, I'll die earlier than I would otherwise." She nodded. "So what happens to vampires?"

"We have to feed more," she said. "We have no mortality to burn away, but too strong a spell and we would die."

"How did they miss you," Glorfindel murmured to himself.  "There are spells that will burn out even the most powerful magic users."

"Are there spells so powerful that even a focus will not help?" Ori asked, curling his hands deeper into the thick scarf.

"A few, most of which have been lost to time, and none of which should be attempted except in the most desperate of straits," Glorfindel answered.

Ori nodded. "We shall not be teaching you those," Galadriel said, voice dry.

"Alright," Ori said after a moment.

A smile twitched her mouth up at the acceptance, as if he had honestly expected otherwise. "You will have to learn how to concentrate," she said. "How to perform smaller spells. I want to gauge how strong you are today, and then we shall start working."

His eyes darted over to her. "Do we have the time to start out small?"

"For your sake, you should hope we do," Galadriel said, pushing away from the wall.

Glorfindel stepped back, leaning against the wall to leave room for Galadriel to test Ori.

"I need to look at your essence," she said. "This will sting a bit." He opened his mouth to ask what she meant when she placed her hand on his chest and pushed, threads of magic through it and light appeared in tendrils from her hand and his heart to form a disc above them. He tipped his head back to stare at it.

"Concentrate," Galadriel said. "On what you care about most in this world, and what you wish to protect." He nodded slightly, the light deepening slightly and she smiled, pulling her hand back and the tendrils snapped back. When she stepped away, Ori poked his chest, peering down at it as if trying to figure out how anything had come out of it. "That was perhaps the harder part."

His eyes drifted up. "It didn't seem so terribly difficult."

Glorfindel's eyebrows rose slightly at that response, a smile tugging on the corner of his lips, "You might be surprised at exactly how difficult it was, lad."

Ori glanced back at him, shifting his shoulders slightly. "Oh."

Galadriel snapped her fingers, causing his head to snap back around. "Alright," she said. "Focus again," and she lifted her hands up to float a sphere of light. "Change this shape."

"Into what?" Ori asked and she shrugged.

"Into the first thing that comes to mind that isn't a sphere," Glorfindel said before sliding down to sit against the wall, his legs curled in just the right position to allow him quick movement from where he was if need be.

Ori frowned, concentrating until the sphere shifted into a tea cup, saucer clicking to the bottom. Galadriel smiled. "Again."

His eyes flickered to her in surprise before slowly shifting the shape again, a butterfly appearing. Each time she commanded him to focus on something else, it took longer for the light to change form until he finally sat down on the ground hard and it snapped back into a sphere. With a flick of her fingers she dismissed it, smiling. "You did well."

"That does not feel well," he said, hunching his shoulders into the scarf.

"You changed it over ten times," she said. "Most first time users barely make it five times."

"It's impressive is what it is," Glorfindel said, watching Ori and briefly glancing to Galadriel.  "You've a tenacity about you."

He drew his knees up, hugging them to his chest. "You did well," Galadriel said again. "But that is enough for today."

"Are you sure?" he asked, starting to push back up and she nodded.

"Yes, I am very certain." He sat back down, feeling dizzy.

Glorfindel smoothly gained his feet, unfolding himself almost more than actually rising

Galadriel reached forward, touching the top of his head lightly and smiling. "Come back in a few days and we'll work on actual spells. I'll have more prepared."

Nodding, Ori tipped his head back. "So what was your focus for those?" he asked and she smiled, tapping the pendent she wore pinned to the left breast of her grey blazer, a large pearl in a silver leaf setting.

"Rest now," she said and looked once more at Glorfindel before sweeping from the room.

Glorfindel watched her go, moving so he was more easily in Ori's line of sight before sitting down again.

"Why do you keep talking about me like you already know me?" Ori asked, watching him.

"Everything I've said is apparent to those looking for it," Glorfindel responded.

Ori's brows twitched up. "Really?"

"When we first turned toward you after closing the portal you stepped toward us rather than away," Glorfindel started to explain.  "There's something about you, and watching you with the magic today confirmed that."

Ori frowned. "What if I don't actually want to have something about me?"

"There’s not much you can do about your nature," Glorfindel replied, drawing a knee up to rest his forearm on it.  "I wish, for your sake, that you had never found the catalyst for it, though."

"My brother," Ori said, not really a question. "But even when you crawled out of that portal you were watching me."

"It's difficult to articulate.  There's a, a sense of power, of potential, within and around you."

Ori's hands tightened in his scarf and he forced them to relax. "Well, I guess you're slightly less terrifying now."

Glorfindel chuckled, "Well, I thank you for that I suppose."

"It was a nonjudgmental scary," Ori said. "I mean, anyone would be scary coming out of a hell portal."

"I am beginning to understand the protective streak that Kili evidences about you, and the twins' reactions as well," Glorfindel said, shaking his head.

"Excuse me?" Ori blinked at him.

"Kili actually threatened, or didn't threaten but implied a threat, to the twins should harm befall you."

Ori pushed the scarf up to his nose. "And the twins?"

"Did you not notice the positions they took when you entered the Lady's study?  The only ones of us allowed past them were their sire and myself, I'm sure had Erestor arrived they would have permitted him access as well, as few refuse him."  He shook his head, "It may not have been a conscious decision on their parts but that action was protective in ways that are again difficult to express."

“I can't say I like things that are difficult to express," Ori said, swallowing hard.

"Whether they knew it or not, and by this point I hope they have figured out some of the more nuanced actions, they expressed through following you up to the study and then, in essence, guarding the door, that you're under their protection.  Any vampire stupid enough to go near you is going to have to go through them.  And although they seem to have forgotten certain techniques over the centuries, when fighting together they're quite the force to be reckoned with," his lips curved upward into a bemused smile.  "I wouldn't recommend fighting them to anyone I remotely liked."

Ori looked caught between flattered and horrified. "And what about you?"

"What about me?" Glorfindel replied, his eyebrows rising.

"You haven't let me out of your sight since you saw me," Ori said. "Not for long anyway."

"And don't think I won't be hearing about that for the next several days," Glorfindel responded.  "It's a similar situation to what Elladan and Elrohir are doing, I suppose.  It's not often I've seen a human like you, and an even rarer situation where I've had the desire to protect them.  You, however, have walked yourself into the heart of a nest of very old vampires because it was the best course of action you could see.  That deserves acknowledgement and cultivation."

Ori blinked and then a tiny smile titled the corners of his mouth up. "Cultivation. I'm changing the scale of scary things I've heard recently because that might top it."

Glorfindel laughed at that, "I'm not sure what other word to use to express it, though."

"I'm used to being told to cultivate my art, not my recklessness," Ori said, shifting a little to see about standing up and deciding against it for the moment.

"Sometimes recklessness is the only course of action," he paused.  "Though many here would probably advise you not to listen to me on that point."

"Something about--how long were you there, anyway?" Ori asked. "The other side of that portal."

"According to your timeline?  Three hundred years I hear."

Ori stilled, staring at him for a long moment. "That is a rather long time."

"It's even longer on the other side," Glorfindel admitted.

Hesitating for a moment, Ori scooted forward, resting a hand on Glorfindel's knee, to the side of his arm. "I'd make you tea but I don't expect you have any."

Glorfindel chuckled quietly at that, "The fact that you'd offer is well worth it, in and of itself.  The world's changed a lot in the last few centuries though.  Do you know, we were on a different continent when last I was here?"

"I didn't," Ori said. "Which one where you on?"

"Europe actually," Glorfindel said with a wry smile.  "Apparently Erestor didn't take news of my fall very well."

"Haven't met him yet. How bad?"

"He destroyed the house they were living in at the time," his tone was disconcertingly fond at that.

Ori blinked, noticing the tone and the way it jarred with his words. "Charming?" he offered.

Glorfindel laughed again, "Erestor has always desired to be a more traditional vampire without the trappings of emotion.  And then he does things like that in his grief and there is no one who believes him."

"Sounds like Thorin," Ori said without thinking about it.

The vampire blinked twice, considering that, "Does it really?"

"Well, without the vampire bit," Ori amended quickly. "The idea of a leader though--he gets hung up, forgets how to act human sometimes." Ori ducked his chin down, blushing half in fury at himself for talking about Thorin to a vampire.

"I think that happens to a lot of people, human, hunter, and vampire alike," Glorfindel said.  "Thranduil certainly has his own set of issues expressing himself.  The twins as well, in their own way."

"I suppose," Ori said after a moment, thinking about his brothers and his head sank lower. "I suppose we all do." He drew his hand back, resting it in his lap again.

"At least when we recognize it we have some chance of changing it," Glorfindel offered, considering Ori and his withdrawal.

"I should get back," Ori said. "Dori--he's going to kill me, he'll be so worried."

"Are you steady enough to stand now?"Glorfindel checked, knowing the other was right, but uncertain about letting him leave without some sort of an escort which was just not viable considering the sunlight that was surely still present outside.

"Yeah I think so," Ori said, pushing himself up and keeping his feet. "Though coffee on the way home sounds like a great plan."

Glorfindel nodded, watching him as he rose as well, "Be careful on your way back."

"It's still light out," Ori said. "I should be fine."

"Good," Glorfindel nodded, starting for the door, holding it open for Ori.

For a moment Ori frowned at him and then stepped through. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Glorfindel responded, glancing toward the stairs.  "I wish you well, Ori.  And shall see you upon a later date."

"Almost promised," Ori said. "Something about coming back."

That garnered a smile, "So you did.  Good day, lad.  Take care of yourself."

"Yeah," Ori said. "You too. Be careful of demons."

"I will," Glorfindel nodded before heading up the stairs toward the library.

"I'll see myself out then," Ori said, folding the ends of his scarf up. It made sense as he had seen himself in as well.

He weaved home, unsteady on his feet still but almost all the way there when he turned instead for a cafe he often frequented, wanting a cup of coffee and a pastry to stop the shaking in his arms before he returned home and apologized to Dori.

Except that Dwalin ducked out of the door and his face was thunderous when he finally saw Ori. "Where have you been?"

"I've not been gone that long," Ori said and Dwalin's expression darkened.

"It's been hours," he said and Ori took a small step back when he advanced. "Hours that you have been gone."

"And I'm back," Ori said, chin tilting back in defiance and Dwalin caught him. Hefting him up, he lifted Ori off the ground to shake him.

"You idiot, you damned idiot, what were you thinking?"

Bracing his hands on Dwalin's shoulders, Ori snarled at him. "Put me down."

"Where did you go that was so important?" Dwalin asked and Ori kicked him in the shin, not even causing Dwalin to wince.

"Put me down," Ori snarled and Dwalin frowned before letting him go, noticing the way he stumbled back and hid his hands beneath his scarf.

"You're not the only one to ever lose a brother," Dwalin said as Ori took another step back and fussed over the hem of his shirt and adjusted the scarf. "You can't afford to do something stupid."

"What would you know of it?" Ori muttered, nose pressed down into the scarf.

"Thorin, Dis and Fili have all lost brothers," Dwalin said and Ori's eyes snapped up.

"Don't talk about Fili's loss," he snapped, seeing Kili jarring still against his senses. "You weren't here when he tried to get himself killed instead of dealing with his grief."

Dwalin stilled. "Surely he did not--"

"He did," Ori said, mouth pressed into a thin line. For a moment they stared at each other and Ori's shoulders shook. "I was just going to cafes," he said. "I needed--"

Slowly, Dwalin approached him again, brushing a hand over the line of Ori's right shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said, wondering if Ori had looked so drawn earlier, before he left the house. "You look like a mess."

This time Ori allowed him to drawn him forward, Dwalin holding him against his chest instead of shaking him. "I can't imagine why," Ori huffed and buried his nose against Dwalin's shirt, sniffling.

"We should get you home," Dwalin said, but once he started to cry, Ori couldn't seem to stop.

-0-

Dis knocked twice on Thorin's office door before stepping inside and closing the door behind her, effectively cutting off her brother's escape, "We need to talk."

"Do we?" he asked, looking up from the book he was flipping aimlessly through.

"We do.  Specifically about a certain librarian," she said, moving over to lean against his desk.

"I'm not sure what you could ask me about him," Thorin said, marking his place though, in case the conversation got out of control.

"Beyond what you're doing with him and what you think of him?  Not much."

"Not much indeed," he said, arching a brow. "You do not seem to like him."

"I don't know anything about him," she answered simply.  "As such, I don't trust him."

"You don't trust anyone, really," Thorin said, but his hand covered the title of the book he was reading without thinking about it.

Her gaze flickered toward the book and she arched an eyebrow, "He's very evasive when asked about himself.  Have you noticed that?"

"Yes," Thorin agreed. "He's evasive about many things though. But then again, so are we."

"Some of which he seems to know," Dis responded.  "He knows more about this family and what we do than I'm sure I'm comfortable with."

"Because we know little of him?" Thorin asked. "Or simply because?"

"Primarily because we know so little of him."

"Did you only come to register your disapproval?" Thorin asked, fingers tightening on the book cover before he relaxed them.

"No, I also came to say that despite my disapproval, and the fact we know next to nothing about him, you seem more relaxed around him than I've seen in you in a long time.  And that, right there, is why I don't actually dislike him," his sister replied.

"I am not relaxed," Thorin tried to protest.

"You offered him training.  And the next morning you made breakfast and talked with him while you did so," Dis said, shaking her head.  "It might not be much, but it's certainly something."

 Thorin shifted slightly, uncomfortable. "He has done good things for us," he said. "With information, choosing to fight with us. And he was always kind to your sons."

Dis sighed, running a hand over her eyes, "Just be careful, Thorin."

"Not being careful is not in my nature," he pointed out, arching a brow up.

Dis paused and then nodded, "Good.  What are you researching?"

"Old religions based on the calendar," Thorin admitted, looking like he did not want to.

"Religions and calendars?"  Dis' eyebrows rose, considering his motion to cover the title and their topic of conversation, "What did he say to spark this?"

"That he cannot remember his own religion," Thorin muttered. "It is probably nothing. All families have odd traditions."

That earned a few rapid blinks, "But he remembered enough for you to know calendar days to research?"

"They're rather specific days," Thorin admitted.

"Well, I hope they hold up under scrutiny," she said, genuinely meaning it.

"Thank you," he said, and almost mentioned Bilbo's odd dislike of thanks before deciding against it. "I know you are trying to watch my back."

She offered him a ghost of a smile, "I always am."

"That does not mean I always appreciate it," he added but smiled.

Dis actually laughed briefly at that, "If you always appreciated what I was doing, how could I be acting according to my role as sister?"

"You would find it difficult, I'm sure," Thorin rumbled and paused. "Though you have always been luckier than I in certain regards."

"Have I?" she asked after a moment, considering him in mild confusion.

“You had a husband," Thorin pointed out. "Relationships you built, which is more than I can say."

"You've always been so wrapped up in what it takes to lead and protect this family," Dis said after a moment, considering her next words carefully.  "Perhaps it would not be a bad thing to have something for yourself."

"There are portals to hell opening," Thorin said, folding his hands on the desk. "It's a fuck of a time to start thinking about myself."

"I didn't say it was a good time, but you've put it off for years via one excuse or another," Dis replied.  "Some might argue that with portals of hell opening it's a very good time to think of yourself."

"I still have to protect this family," he said, voice low.

"Yes, you're right you do.  You do remember that doesn't preclude having emotions, don't you?"

His laugh was bitter and turned inward. "Are you certain?"

Dis' lips quirked slightly, "So I've heard at least."

"Well, if you've heard it," he said, arching a brow.

"You and I both know neither of us is well in touch with our emotions," Dis said.  "But you might consider something of your own.  It doesn't mean you're not still protecting the family, after all."

"But it could," Thorin said. "If things go ill."

"...I am suddenly reminded of why I was married and you haven't had a long-term relationship," his sister shook her head.  "Yes, things could go badly.  They could go well too.  You're too caught in the 'what if' here.  Every decision has the chance of being good or bad and you won't know until it's made."

He winced but did not disagree. "Then you approve, though it sounds begrudging."

"It is begrudging, but yes I approve.  I think it could be good for you," Dis said, shrugging very slightly.

"That's almost saying he's hung the stars and moon, coming from you."

His sister smiled faintly at that, "Well, if he proves to be no danger to the family, perhaps he has."

Thorin dropped his gaze, but somehow managed to keep smiling.

Dis paused, watching her brother for a moment, "I'll let you get back to your reading."

Before he could reply, the front door opened and closed and he tensed, already heading for the foyer. Dis followed close on his heels and they reached the foyer at about the same moment Dori did.

Dwalin hovered behind Ori, hand on his shoulder. After Ori finally stopped crying on the street Dwalin had shuffled him back into the cafe, ordering him the right coffee, though he got quite a look from the barista for Ori's obvious tears. Even so, he looked wane and it was still clear he had been crying.

Dori swept over before anyone could say anything, cupping Ori's cheeks in his hands, "I was so worried.  You've been crying."  His gaze darted accusingly to Dwalin, "What happened?"

"Nothing," Ori managed. "I mean, everything. It was just everything."

Brushing Ori's hair back, Dori drew a breath, "I'm sorry about this morning.  I should have, I could have handled that better."

"It wasn't that," Ori protested, hunching his shoulders slightly. "I mean, not entirely."

"I know that, but I'm still sorry," Dori murmured.

"It's fine," Ori said, frowning down at his fingers, still shaking. He curled his hands into fists and tired to smile. "As fine as it can be."

Dori caught that expression and looked down at Ori's hands as well, "And you're safe.  Where did you go?"

"Just out," Ori mumbled and Dwalin shook his head, not having pressed.

"I found him at that cafe he likes," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Dori looked up at Dwalin and nodded very slightly, "Thank you."  He turned his attention back to Ori, not entirely sure what to do for him or with him.

"It's fine," Ori said when Dori didn't move back. "I'm fine." Finally stepping back, Dori nodded, curling his hands at his sides to keep from fussing over Ori further. "Besides, Dwalin only picked me up and shook me a little," Ori added and Dwalin startled behind him.

Dori's attention turned entirely on Dwalin at that, "You did _what_?"

"I--" Dwalin started and Thorin's face went instantly blank.

"Only a little," Ori reminded.

"Because that makes it ever so much better," Dori replied, glancing briefly to his brother.

"Well he didn't slam me into anything," Ori said and Dwalin only looked horrified.

"You," he managed. "Surely you do not..."

"A point in his favor," Dori drawled, ignoring the fact Thorin and Dis were present for the moment.

"I quite thought so too," Ori said.

"But you're alright?" Dori confirmed again, "or, at least physically hale?"

"Physically hale," Ori said, a firm little nod of his chin. He felt like the instant he sat down he would sleep for a week.

Dori looked him over for a moment, "You look exhausted."

"It's been a long week," he said, eyes sliding away.

"I," Dori nodded, "I can put a kettle on for some tea."

For a moment Ori did not move. "Alright," he said finally. "That... that would be nice." Dori paused for another moment before nodding and turning to go to the kitchen.

When Ori followed, Dwalin looked at Thorin. "I would not hurt him," he said, protesting to Thorin over Dori because of the stony expression on his face.

For a very long moment Thorin only looked at him. "I threw Fili into the wall," he said and Dwalin understood what Ori said earlier like a slap to the face.

Dis paused before speaking quietly, "We have not handled things very well. Either of us."

"Apparently not," Dwalin agreed, no bite in his words.

"It was the night after--" Dis broke off at that and shook her head.

"The night after what?" Dwalin asked.

"No, it wasn't even that long.  Fili saw, Fili was the first of us to confirm Kili had been turned," Dis said after a moment.  "And he went out on his own and faced a batch of vampires."

Dwalin tried not to react, all the breath leaving his chest at once. "He is fine though," he confirmed. "He's not--"

"At least Ori did not face down a pack of vampires by himself," Thorin said finally, the sound low.

"He's alive," Dis said, meeting Dwalin's eyes.  "And so far has not actively tried to change that again."

Dwalin let out a breath and reached forward for both Thorin and Dis' hand. "Come," he said. "We should talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VS has been waiting so long to write this scene with Ori.


	18. It Seems Your Entire Younger Generation is in Rebellion

Bilbo pulled his coat on, dimming the lights and heading for the door, unlocking it long enough to step out into the chill November evening.  Closing the door and locking it again, he pulled on a pair of soft gloves and turned his collar up.

Thorin leaned against the banister of the stairs leading down from the library, smoking, Dwalin brooding at the bottom of the steps with his arms crossed over his chest. "Good evening," Thorin said.

Bilbo startled slightly but offered Thorin a smile, "Good evening to you as well."

"You look awfully surprised," Thorin said, stubbing the cigarette out on the banister and leaning over to flick it in the trashcan by the door.

"I suppose I wasn't entirely sure you meant what you said before," he answered, starting down the stairs.

"It is dangerous times," Thorin replied.

"Oh, I don't disagree with that at all," Bilbo said, pulling his coat tighter.

"Are you cold?" Thorin asked and Dwalin rolled his eyes behind his back.

"It's colder than it's been in a couple of nights," Bilbo responded.

Thorin draped the scarf he wore over Bilbo's neck. "The seasons are turning," he agreed.

His gloved hands coming up to touch the scarf, Bilbo paused before knotting it, "I appreciate you coming tonight."  He glanced past Thorin, "And you too, Mr. Dwalin."

"Indeed," Dwalin said, eyes scanning the road as they walked, hand on his weapon.

"Have you made any progress toward setting a time to meet with the vampires?" Bilbo asked after a moment, glancing at Thorin.

"Yes," Thorin said. "We seem to have contacts we did not know about, and that is making it seem simple enough." Even though every time Gimli called the vampire in question, he retreated out of the room and seemingly hoping that Thorin would not overhear anything he said.

"Well, that's a benefit.  I've had no luck reaching Gandalf, try though I might."

"From what you have said, it is likely he will turn up when least expected," Thorin said, hiding his hands in his pockets.

Bilbo smiled wryly at that and then nodded, "As is his practice from what I've seen. Do you have a date set for meeting with them?"

"Almost," Thorin said, not looking over at Bilbo. "They are in as much of a rush as we are, frankly, and Oin has been talking about portents again. We may be running out of the little time we had."

"Let's hope the next wave doesn't come before some of this can be decided upon," Bilbo murmured, tugging at his gloves absently.  He paused for a long moment before speaking again, "Is that offer for training with a blade still open?"

"Yes," Thorin said, glancing back over his shoulder. "Though you would probably have to deal with Dwalin as your teacher."

Bilbo cast a glance toward Dwalin before he nodded, "I like to think I'd be able to deal with that.  Though I admit it's not quite what I expected."

Thorin's mouth twitched. "He's not so scary."

"Yes I am," Dwalin said, walking behind them, arms still crossed over his chest.

Bilbo's laugh was nervous, "I think I'm going to agree with Mr. Dwalin here.  He's rather an intimidating presence."

"I am sure he can contain himself," Thorin said, tone not quite a threat and Dwalin laughed.

"And you have been doing well?" Bilbo asked, glancing up at Thorin again.

Thorin only shrugged slightly. "No worse than I have been."

"Is there anything which I can do for you and yours?"

Dwalin carefully did not scoff. "Like what?" Thorin asked.

"I am always confused when people ask me that," Bilbo responded.  "After I have asked what you need, which typically implies that I don't actually know."

“But what could you offer?" Thorin asked, biting down anger. "It's not like we have a problem that can be solved. Grief cannot be wished away and the end of the world is coming. What help could possibly be offered? What do you think you have to give?"

Bilbo flinched away at that, frowning, "Time, energy, work, effort, I, I don't know.  It's not as though I've much use beyond shelving books," his tone was sharper than he had intended and he turned his attention to the sidewalk before them.

"It is not an insult," Thorin said. "But there is little anyone could do."

"No, that's true," Bilbo said after a moment.  "Though I wasn't lying, there's not much I know outside of my library."

“But your library holds the world, does it not?" Thorin asked, voice dropping slightly into something almost wistful.

"A theoretical knowledge of it, at least," Bilbo replied, mouth twisting.  He thought he saw the briefest spark of green down an alley to their left but he ignored it and hoped it would be brushed aside as a dumpster catching the light from the street lamps. Dwalin caught the flicker of light and frowned in confusion, though he did not remark upon it.

"Perhaps so," Thorin rumbled and tilted his head back to look at the sky. "Fili seems to have registered that this meeting means seeing his brother again and he seems to accept that. I do not wish to."

"To see Kili?" Bilbo asked, sliding his hands into his pockets.

"I can't really bear the thought of seeing him again," Thorin said. "Among other people. If he's found a place there, even as something dark. Seeing him means fully admitting he has another life, that he is a vampire."

"You've seen him since he was turned, though."  Bilbo paused and shook his head, "It's different, isn't it?  It's the idea that he may fit with them."

"Having to accept him," Thorin said. "As something else. When I've seen him before I never had to accept that, nor see if he belongs." He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. "Do you know that vampires call each other family?"

The librarian glanced at him, shaking his head, "I didn't know that, no."

"They do," Thorin said, stiffly. "Which means they will likely claim to be his new family."

"I hope they've at least somewhat more tact than that," Bilbo murmured. "You honestly think they would be overt about it in front of you, even if they have taken him in and claimed him?"  Bilbo's eyebrows rose, "That would seem counter to the interests of all concerned."

Thorin shrugged. "Whether they gloat or not, the fact remains they took him from me."

Bilbo paused as they reached his apartment building, "They did, yes."  He glanced toward the door to the building, "Would you two like to come in and warm up?  I could put the kettle on, I might even have coffee in there somewhere."

Thorin opened his mouth to say no automatically when Dwalin bumped into his shoulder and spoke before he could. "That would be fine, thank you."

Bilbo smiled at that, "Wonderful."  He opened the door, holding it for them and starting for the stairs.

Shooting Dwalin a dark look, Thorin followed. "It's only fair," Dwalin said under his breath, making sure the door was closed behind them. "He saw our home, we see his."

"That is not your motivation," Thorin hissed back.

Bilbo glanced over his shoulder at them, but didn't ask.  They reached the third floor, the hall decorated in taupe, but each of the doors painted a different color.  Stopping in front of the green one on the left and unlocking it, Bilbo stepped through, tossing his keys into a bowl near the door and shrugging out of his coat, offering Thorin his scarf back, "Make yourselves comfortable.  Would you rather tea or coffee?"

The apartment was cozy with an open floor plan, a couch and two armchairs making up the seating in the living room arranged around the coffee table that looked rather like a large tree burl cut thin with legs added.  The demarcation for the kitchen was only a shift from a soft brown carpet to a plane cream laminate.  The walls were all but hidden by bookshelves, the windowsills covered with plants of different sorts. Two brown, faux wood doors led off the main room, likely leading to the bathroom and bedroom.

"Cozy," Dwalin remarked, looking around. "Very natural." Thorin almost elbowed him as he accepted his scarf back.

"Coffee, please."

Bilbo nodded, pulling off his gloves and setting them on the small table with the bowl for his keys.  Heading for the kitchen, he glanced at Dwalin, "I hope that's not meant as a bad thing."

"More to each their own," Dwalin shrugged, going over and poking one of the plants.

"It's charming enough," Thorin said, still giving Dwalin a dark look. "Stop that."

Chuckling, Bilbo shook his head as he filled the coffee pot he rarely used and located the grounds for it, "The plants can stand some handling, I haven't paid them as much attention as I should recently."

"See?" Dwalin said. "I'm being helpful."

"You're poking a plant," Thorin said, one brow starting to twitch up.

"If you could turn them while you're poking them it would be more helpful," Bilbo said, relaxing now that he was in his own space.

Dwalin turned the plant in question halfway around and gave Thorin a challenging look, only getting an eye roll in return, Thorin slinging the scarf back around his neck though he shrugged his coat off, wincing at the pull on his back.

"Careful," Bilbo said, having caught the wince.  He reached up to get a pair of mugs down and set the kettle on for his own tea.

Dwalin looked up enough to catch Thorin in the corner of his eye, expecting the normal sort of snarl for someone telling him how to behave. Instead he only bowed his dark haired head for a moment. "I'm trying," he said and it was more sulky than anything.

Bilbo sighed at that, shaking his head, "You're better off if you take care of yourself, you know."

Scowling, Thorin nodded. "I am," he insisted again.

"Good," Bilbo murmured, his gaze focused on his tea tin, his hands curled around it. Dwalin busied himself with turning the other plants, expression innocent as Thorin glared at him.

Withdrawing a teabag and setting it next to his cup, Bilbo filled the small watering can he kept near the sink and crossed over to water the plants Dwalin had already turned, "Is there anything else I can get you gentlemen?  Anything to eat or the like?"

"We wouldn't want to put you out," Thorin said at the same time Dwalin asked, "Do you have any cookies?"

Bilbo laughed lightly at that, "I might have some, yes.  It's really no trouble."  He ducked back into the kitchen, leaving the watering can amongst the plants, and dug through his pantry, emerging with a tin of cookies.

Reaching a hand out for the can, Dwalin arched a brow at Thorin. "Do you think--"

"No," Thorin said, batting his hand away. "Stop it."

Eyebrows rising again, Bilbo glanced between them, "What?"

"Nothing," Thorin said, drawing back.

Looking bemused, Bilbo set the tin of cookies down on the coffee table, "If you say so."  He picked up the watering can and finished with the plants before retreating to the kitchen to pour the two cups of coffee and get his tea steeping.

By the time Bilbo returned, Dwalin was already munching through the cookies, Thorin looking at him and shaking his head before turning to Bilbo. "You don't have to keep running around," he said, taking one of the coffee cups. "We could have come and gotten them."

Bilbo shrugged, grabbing his tea from the end of the counter where he had slid it, "It's not all that far into the kitchen and I don't mind."

"Still," Thorin rumbled, sipping at the coffee even though it was too hot.

Curling his hands around his mug of tea, Bilbo shook his head, "It's no trouble. I'm the one who invited you up after all."

"And the warmth is appreciated," Thorin rumbled, watching Bilbo.

Bilbo smiled slightly at that, hiding it behind his cup, "I'm glad.  It's bloody cold out tonight. And likely to get colder." His smile turned wry, "It figures that the portents predict a demon that likes fire rising during the winter."

"Well," Dwalin said. "At least he would warm things up a bit."

That earned an amused snort from the librarian, "That's one way of putting it, yes. Though I would hazard that he might make things a bit _too_ warm.  Heat out of season and all that."

"Kill all the plants," Dwalin agreed and Thorin sighed, turning a chair around before sitting down on it and bracing his hands on the back.

Bilbo laughed at that, "Exactly, destroy any chance of blossoms come springtime."

"And without blossoms there would be no fruit to come afterward," Thorin said, a deep rumble. "We will stop it."

"May the harvest be plentiful next year," Bilbo murmured almost automatically.  "Do you really think we can stop it?"

Thorin frowned at him. "Would you rather lie down and wait to die?" he asked. "We have to believe we can stop it."

"No, I would not prefer to lay down and wait to die," Bilbo replied, testily. "But we know next to nothing about what we'll be facing."

"The vampires might," Dwalin pointed out and Thorin narrowed his eyes at him. "Not only are some of them apparently old enough," Dwalin pressed on. "But Ori mentioned that last time one came out of hell itself. Perhaps they've met."

"A vampire who's met a destroyer," Bilbo shook his head, "That would be a vampire I'm not certain I myself would care to meet. More than the average I mean."

"But he could tell us things," Thorin said and Dwalin laughed at Bilbo's words.

"Ori seemed downright terrified of him." Also a little fascinated and that got under Dwalin's skin.

" _If_ he's met the demon," Bilbo said, addressing Thorin before looking back at Dwalin.  "Ori's probably got the right of it here, either way."  His attention drifted back to Thorin, "On the other hand, he probably has an entirely different perspective on Hell and what sorts of things could come out of the portals."

"But that's if he is still with these vampires," Thorin said. "He might be long gone."

"Well, for the sake of his knowledge, let's hope he's stayed around," Bilbo said, setting his mug down on the coffee table.

"We should leave you to your evening," Thorin said and Dwalin rolled his eyes, muttering something about missing opportunities and stomping over to the doors.

"This is the bathroom right?" he asked, picking one at random.

"Other one," Bilbo answered absently, his focus barely leaving Thorin.  "If you feel you must, I certainly won't keep you.  You've other things to do I'm sure."

"That's not quite--" Thorin started as Dwalin gave him a significant look over Bilbo's shoulder and clicked the door shut behind himself.

"Well, you're certainly not imposing, here," Bilbo said.  "I was only thinking to curl up with a book at this point.  Perhaps early to bed as well, but," he broke off and shrugged.

"It sounds relaxing," Thorin said, shifting uncomfortably, feeling tongue tied even though he was talking still.

"It can be.  You're, that is, I don't mind if you wish to stay longer."

"And what would we do if we stayed?" Thorin asked and honestly considered hitting his head against the chair.

"I," he blinked twice, reminding himself that Dwalin was a component as well.  "I'm not entirely sure, actually."

"No ideas at all?" Thorin asked, catching his hesitation.

"Not for you both," Bilbo admitted and mentally cursed himself.  He needed to re-strengthen his filter around Thorin.

Thorin stopped and stared at him for a long moment. "And if only Dwalin was here?" he asked instead of what he wanted to.

Bilbo stared at him for a long moment, trying to make that question compute, "What?  I don't know, probably hand him the other tin of cookies I have squirreled away and shoo him away from my plants.  I don't know that just Dwalin would have made it past my doorway."

"Then why did I?" Thorin asked before he veered the conversation somewhere else and left in shame when Dwalin finally stopped dawdling.

"You don't know?" Bilbo responded, pausing for a moment, "Because you're you.  Because even if I don't know you _well_ I know you better than I know him.  Because, because, oh there's several reasons."

Thorin opened his mouth and closed it. "Oh," he managed, feeling like he was letting something important go by his head but unable to find the words to stop the moment from disappearing.

Bilbo blinked at him, "Oh?" He wasn't quite certain how he could respond to that.  He had invited Thorin into his home, a place few people were allowed. Welcomed him there, even.

Thorin just stared at him, opened his mouth and shut it again. "We shouldn't keep you from your night any longer."

"I, I didn't have any plans. That is, you're not keeping me from anything."

"I still," Thorin floundered, though his face still looked serious and possibly irritated.

"You still?" Bilbo reached forward instinctively, but stopped just short of touching Thorin.

"I still," Thorin started and panicked. "Should still not take up more of your night."

There was a pause and Dwalin finally emerged from the bathroom, looking torn between laughing and punching Thorin.

Bilbo startled back from Thorin as soon as the door opened.  He ran a nervous hand over his shirtfront, "It would, would not be an imposition."

"I'll be in contact soon," Thorin said quickly, already heading for the door. To anyone who didn't know him, he still looked dignified but Dwalin shook his head the whole way.

"I apologize for him," he said, ignored Thorin's glare.

Bilbo's lips quirked into a hint of a smile, looking to Thorin, "I have tomorrow off.  If, if you're worried about taking up my time."  He looked toward Dwalin, "Good night."

"Sleep well," Thorin said and Dwalin rolled his eyes behind his back.

Bilbo's smile became more genuine at that, "Be careful."

"Always," Thorin promised and escaped outside, Dwalin shaking his head.

"That was pathetic," he said.

"Shut up," Thorin snapped.

-0-

"You cannot be serious," Thorin said and Gimli shifted from foot to foot.

"That's what they said. They... actually, from their perspective it's a big move, to tell us where their mansion is. A sign of trust that we won't come back and burn it during the day."

"They want us to... to walk into their mansion for a meeting," Thorin said, repeating it again in disbelief.

Dis rubbed her right eyebrow, lines appearing on her forehead as she considered it, "And why wasn't a more neutral ground on offer?"

"I don't know," Gimli sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Some... something about magic. I think it was a protection thing but I don't know."

"Magic," Dis sounded unimpressed.  "Did they say how many of us we could bring into their home?"

"As many as we needed," Gimli said. "Um, I think to offset where it is."

Ori slipped into the living room, Thorin raising his brows at the fact he sat down quietly instead of continuing on to the kitchen.

Dori frowned at Ori's presence in the room, keeping his mouth shut for the moment.  Dis raked a hand through her hair, "So we can have anyone there, but we're still in unfamiliar setting where they have all of their numbers."

"Yes," Gimli said, still wanting to hide.

"And there was something about magic explaining why we weren't meeting somewhere else," Dis sighed, looking at her brother and shaking her head ever so slightly.

"I can ask about that more," Gimli said. "I think--I think it was a protective ward against demons that would be impossible to set up elsewhere. Or... I don't know. I will find out."

"Find out," Thorin finally spoke again.

Dori tapped his fingers against his knee, thinking for a moment, "We'll need to figure out who would be going."

"I want to go," Ori said and Gimli tensed, carefully not hiding his face behind his hands.

"Out of the question," Thorin said.

"Absolutely not," Dori said, shaking his head emphatically.  Dis looked from Thorin to Dori and back, frowning slightly.

"Why would you even consider it?" Thorin asked.

"Because why shouldn't he?" Dis asked, gaze fixed steadily on her brother.

"What?" Thorin whipped his head around. "He… he's too young."

"I'm going," Gimli pointed out.

Dis nodded toward Gimli, speaking before Ori could, "It isn't as though Ori would be going alone.  And he has training, not as much as some of us but he has some.  He is capable of going and we could use a clearer opinion in this than those of us with longer bias are capable of."

"And how exactly is he less biased?" Thorin demanded.

"I'm not nearly as angry as you are," Ori said, Gimli giving him a long look.

"Why are we arguing about this?" Dis asked, steadily.

"Because," Thorin protested. "Because we're already walking into the very lair of the vampires and you're siding with a child!"

"I am not a child," Ori said, voice icy and Gimli blinked at him.

"Oh for the love of--Thorin he _is of age_."  Her gaze cut toward Dori and then back to Thorin, "He is an adult and capable of making decisions if you would just _let him_."

"I won't have him going into that place," Dori snapped, eyes narrowing dangerously.

"This is not the decision he should be starting with," Thorin said.

"I've already been there," Ori said and looked like he wanted to go and hide the instant the words were out of his mouth.

"What?" Gimli yelped, the first to react.

Dori paled, turning to face his brother, "You _what_?"

Dis' eyes widened and she stared at Ori for a long moment before she composed herself and turned back to Thorin, "There you go.  He's already been.  He might as well come when we can supervise."

Ori frantically looked between Dori and Thorin and leaned more heavily back into the couch.

Dis opened her mouth to speak again, but Dori beat her to it, addressing Ori, " _Why_ would you do something like that?"

"You're the one who, uh," he managed and stalled for a second before starting again. "Said magic was too dangerous. So I figured that without guidance would be worse."

Gimli looked like he was going to faint and Thorin was rendered so speechless he opened and closed his mouth several times.

Dori paled at that, leaning back in his seat, "So you went to the _vampires_ for guidance?"

"She closed the portal last time," Ori said. "I wanted to know how."

"Not the starlit lady?" Gimli managed weakly.

Dori would swear later that his heart actually skipped a beat at that, "Ori..."

"But she," Gimli's hands ended up in his hair and he almost pulled it out when Ori simply crossed his arms and set his jaw. "She's ancient! She's older... than the fucking calendar!"

"Which would make her a logical choice as a teacher," Dis mused, quietly.

"She could eat you for breakfast!" Gimli yelled.

"It is really funny that you're the one currently freaking out," Ori remarked.

Dori sighed, running a hand over his face and trying to calm his racing heart, "Ori, you....That wasn't what I--God, you went to _her_?"

"She's the only one who closed a portal," Ori said. "If more of them are opening, we need to know how to close them too."

Thorin finally seemed to find his voice again. "You went to the vampires to learn magic. Just like that? And they agreed to teach you?"

Ori hesitated, sensing the undercurrent of rage. "Yes."

"Why did they agree to that?" Dis asked, watching her brother out of the corner of her eye.

"Because I was right, they need someone else who knows the magic too, because what if a portal opens during the day? They're terrified. And, they seemed to like me."

"What?" Thorin asked, voice completely flat.

"They're vampires, Ori," his older brother murmured.

"So?" he asked and Gimli had to sit down, almost missing the couch.

"So them liking you is far from reassuring,” Dori replied, voice finally at least sounding calm.

"Oh good," Ori said, tone mild. "I thought you were going to go off on them not having normal human emotions."

"Because they don't," Thorin thundered as Dwalin walked in.

"They do," Ori protested. "They can love and hate and be angry and be afraid just as much as anyone else. They still _feel_ , even if it's sometimes a little warped and not really to our standards. But they can love someone exclusively for five centuries and you think they don't have feelings? They can rage and mourn and love, isn't that enough?"

"How many conversations with vampires have you had?" Thorin yelled, almost shaking the house and Gimli was glad he was already sitting.

"Thorin," Dis' voice rose sharply at that.

Dori had gone very still, his focus still entirely on Ori, "Ori, how long, how long have you been going there?"

"Just the once," Ori said and Gimli looked significantly more pale.

Dwalin, still by the door also looked flabbergasted.

" _When_?" Dori's voice was still quiet, but his tone was firm as granite.

"After Nori," he said.

"When else have you spoken to vampires?" Thorin asked, voice rumbling.

"I," Ori started. "I... ran into a few of them another time."

Dori paused at that, frowning, "Ran into or talked with?"

"Both?" Ori allowed finally, aware of everyone’s attention on him. He did not want to give out Gimli’s secrets as well as his own.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Dwalin asked, finally speaking and Ori startled, not having fully realized he was there. "If there were vampires, if they were following you..."

"They weren't following me," Ori said. "We had coffee, they killed demons, it was fine."

There was a brief stunned silence.

Dori managed to find his voice first, "That night you came home covered in blood and said that vampires had killed the demons you had encountered.  You were having _coffee_ with the demons?"  His eyes narrowed and his attention shifted to Gimli, "Which means you knew about it as well."

"Not with the demons with the vampires," Ori protested.

"They're the same thing!" Thorin yelled again.

"Fine, with the vampires then," Dori snapped.  "That doesn't make this better!"

"They're very charming," Ori muttered and Gimli wondered if he could slip out before Dori or Thorin calmed down enough to notice him again.

"They're _supposed to be_ ," Dori insisted, never raising his voice, "It's part of how they _hunt_."

Ori shrugged. "They weren't hunting."

"You don't know that," Thorin said, hands clenched before he looked back at Gimli. "You knew."

"Um," he managed.

"You also had a vampires phone number and I thought maybe that was an odd fluke of fate, some random con you were too smart to fall for," and Gimli winced. "But it wasn't, was it?"

Dori's attention turned toward Gimli as well, though he let his gaze flick between Gimli and Ori, "Did either of you two think about the probable consequences?"

"Yes," Ori answered first.

"And you considered them worth it?"  Dori watched his brother, his voice dangerously calm

"Yes," Gimli answered this time.

"Why?" Dori asked, voice calm because otherwise he would sound lost.

"Because... because it is," Gimli said.

"That's not an answer," Dwalin remarked.

Dis pursed her lips, looking from Gimli to Ori and back, "There are several things we're missing here, and it would be best for us to find out about them before we go to the meeting."

"Several?" Gimli asked faintly.

"Enough to cause concern," Dis amended.

Gimli shifted again, looking more uncomfortable under Dis and Thorin's gaze, Dwalin still watching Ori. "Well, it's more of one really big thing than several things because Ori's already opened his stupid mouth."

Ori's eyes darted over to him and then back to watching Dwalin, looking at peace and calm. "And what is that big thing then?" Thorin asked.

"And how did Ori end up involved?" Dori asked, gaze focused on Gimli rather than his brother still.

“Okay that's a subset of the bigger issue," Gimli admitted.

"Which is?" Thorin asked again, voice dangerously low.

"Well, there's a vampire," Gimli said. "Which I sorta mentioned earlier, the one whose number I have, who, uh, showed an interest and seemed to, um, be... uh..."

"An interest," Thorin deadpanned. "Sexual?"

"Romantic?" Gimli offered and Thorin looked at Dwalin.

"Get Gloin."

Dori turned his attention to Ori at that, "How did you end up involved?"

"We weren't supposed to go out alone," Ori said.

"You went on a date with a vampire?" Thorin confirmed, his voice rumbling as he looked at Gimli. The younger hunter paused before he nodded slightly.

Dori rubbed his eyes, "How long has this been going on?"

"After, after Kili," Gimli admitted.

Dis's gaze hardened at that answer, her voice going cold, "And how often have you seen this vampire since then?"

"Just, just a couple times," Gimli said, trying not to do calculations. "The last time we fought," he added. "And sorta ended it."

"You went on dates with a vampire," Thorin said. "And think I might be content with the fact you sorta ended it?"

"I'm more interested in the fact that you dated him long enough for there to be something to end," Dis contributed.

"I," Gimli said. "Oh. Hell."

"What is the matter?" Gloin asked, stepping into the room, followed by Dwalin and Fili, who sensed something going on.

"Your son," Thorin said. "Is apparently dating a vampire. That was how he was able to set up the meeting for us."

Gloin stared at him. "My lad set up the meeting? What do you mean he was the one who--wait, dating?"

"Was!" Gimli protested. "I think."

"He's not certain if the fight they had ended the relationship or not," Dori offered to his cousin, glancing away from Gimli and Ori finally.

Dis shook her head, "And apparently this has been going on for some time."

"Um," Gimli managed again as his father gaped at him, Fili folding his arms and leaning against the door next to Dwalin.

"I'm surprised at you both," Thorin said, trying to figure out if he was angry or wanted to lock them away and not let them out until they were smart enough not to be hurt.

"Both?" Fili asked. "Is this a me and him both?"

"No," Ori said. "You missed the fact I'm learning magic from the vampires."

Fili's mouth fell open and he stared. "You... you would, wouldn't you?" He turned back to Thorin. "Well, it seems your entire younger generation is in rebellion then, considering me and Kili."

"If it helps, the vampire youth are more or less in the same state," Ori said.

"Really?" Fili asked.

"The youth and some of the older, though I'm not really sure where Glorfindel falls except the really old but possibly slightly unhinged."

Fili blinked at him, tilting his head to one side. "The... blond one? Long hair, vaguely amused by everything around him? When not being sorta intense?"

"Yeah?" Ori said in surprise.

"He was the one with Kili," Fili explained. "He's not the one teaching you magic, is he?"

"No," Ori said and paused. "Not really."

Dori ran a hand over his hair, looking toward Thorin, "We still haven't actually figured out who is going to the meeting."

“Your younger generation, apparently," Fili said and Gimli buried his face in his hands.

Dis pursed her lips, not certain about arguing for the younger group coming, but she nodded ever so slightly and looked at her brother, "It appears they would have a better idea of the....ones we're negotiating with than we do currently."

"Fine," Thorin grit out. "The three of you can come. And then we are having a very serious talk about certain things when we get back."

-0-

Legolas sat at the foot of the stairs in the foyer, turning his phone over in his hands as he tried to determine whether to call Gimli for a purpose outside of the meeting or not.  He tangled his fingers in his blond hair, briefly regretting having cut it off, and startled at a knock on the door.  He froze, staring at the door and considering who could be out there.

"A knock at this hour?" Elrohir's voice caused Legolas to jump again.  "Right around hunting time?  Seems an odd time for door-to-door anything."

"Demons aren't well known for knocking either," Elladan said, hanging off his brother.

"And the hunters except Ori don't know where we are yet, do they?" Elrohir asked.

Legolas shook his head, "Not yet.  And they wouldn't come at this hour anyway."

"So are we opening the door or is that a no?" Elladan asked as another knock came.

"Two knocks, and Ori wouldn't come alone at this hour."  Elrohir tilted his head to one side. "I vote Legolas opens it."

"And I vote one of you does it," Legolas said without hesitation.

"You're outvoted, you do it," Elladan told Legolas. Kili hesitated at the top of the stairs from where he had been considering going out.

Legolas grimaced and pushed himself to his feet.  He hesitated another moment before finally opening the door.  His eyes lit up and he actually smiled widely as he saw who it was, "Tauriel!"

She flipped her red hair back and arched her brows. "Were you expecting someone else?"

“We, well, we weren't quite sure who to expect."  He stepped backward into the entry, "Come on in."

"Place seems tense," she said, shrugging out of her leather jacket. "Elladan, Elrohir."

Elrohir offered her a lazy smile, "Tauriel."

Legolas ran a hand over his neck and bit his lip, "Yeah, tense is...probably an understatement."

"What's happening?" she asked, looking up and noting Kili without asking about him.

"Oh you know, end of the world, portals to hell opening, Glorfindel's back," Elladan said breezily, waving one hand around.

"And I have a new appreciation for why you left," Legolas added.

"We're working with the hunters now, or will be soon," Elrohir said, draping himself on Elladan's shoulders.

For a moment she looked between the three of them. "Wait, how is Glorfindel back? He was dead three hundred years ago!"

"He clawed his way out of hell when the demons opened a portal into this world," Elrohir said with a shrug, like what he said wasn’t insane.

"So less dead, more trapped in hell," Elladan shrugged. "It was apparently a thing."

She blinked once. "Alright. And the hunters?"

"Apparently the world is ending so we need to work together," Elrohir said.  "Legolas is dating one of them."

The blond vampire yelped at that, "Say it a little louder, I think there are people who haven't heard you yet."

"I think everyone knows by now," Elladan said. "Or will by tomorrow."

"Dating a," Tauriel started and shook her head. "You're out of your damned mind, Legolas. I should never have left you alone here."

"I'm at least getting along with them.  Which is better than Thranduil," Legolas muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Getting along with who?" she asked. "The hunters?"

"No, I think he means the rest of us," Elladan said.

"Both, sort of," Legolas answered.  "Less with the hunters as a whole, as a couple of them."

Tauriel looked around, still noticing Kili who had not moved since she entered. "What does that mean?"

"We'll draw you a chart," Elladan said happily. "Of whose getting along. Currently, we're getting along great with the younger generation of hunters, the elders have agreed to an alliance meeting tomorrow night, and Thranduil has just managed to tick everyone off."

"Has he," she drawled, not much of a question.

Legolas glanced toward Kili and shifted his weight slightly, "He turned one of them."

"Gotta say," she admitted. "I didn't expect that of him. That him?" she asked, tilting her chin up and Kili scowled, finally seeming to snap out of whatever state he was in enough to come down the stairs.

Legolas nodded, "Kili, Tauriel.  Tauriel, Kili.  Thranduil's most recent childe."

"How recent?" she asked, arching a brow.

"I'm standing right here," Kili protested. "And also, who the hell are you exactly?"

"Within the last few months," Elrohir contributed.

Legolas paused at Kili's question, "This is Tauriel.  She left, what's it been, seventy years?  Less?  More?  In other words she's the smart one around here."

"I apparently should have taken you with me to offer such nice compliments," she said before looking back at the twins. "Months? But he'd be a fledge then, and he's not acting like one."

Elrohir shrugged, "He's a bit of a special case.  He remembered more things quickly."

Tauriel frowned. "No one found that odd?" she asked, her and Kili trying to stare the other down.

"Yeah, but it's worked out pretty well," Kili replied snidely.

"And where were you going this late at night?" Tauriel asked. "With a sword no less?"

"More importantly, on your own?" Elrohir asked, focusing on Kili fully.

"I," he started. "Hadn't quite decided on it being on my own yet."

"Are you insane?" Elladan asked.

Elrohir made a point of looking around the foyer and indicating exactly how empty it was of anyone else, "Looks like if you weren't planning on it being on your own you're either going with us or with Legolas tonight then."

"Sure, we can have bonding time," Kili said.

"Which 'we' do you mean?" Legolas asked warily.

"Any?" Kili said, already heading for the door again, Tauriel watching him as he passed by.

Elrohir looked at Elladan, "Should we go with him or should we make Legolas go?  I don't think they've tried to get along enough yet."

"Yeah, you want to be the one that explains to them tomorrow that we lost both of them?" Elladan asked.

Elrohir shrugged, "They can start acting like adults any time they like.  You and I were going out ourselves tonight.  _Remember_?"

Legolas rolled his eyes at them, turnign toward Tauriel, "You'll still be here when we get back?"

"I just came here from _France_ ," she said. "I thought I'd take off before the next morning of course." She shook her head. "Honestly? Thought I'd take a long sleep and tackle sire afterwards. Yes, I'll be here."

Elladan considered before nodding. "Alright, brother, your argument is sound."

Legolas offered her a sheepish grin, "We should talk, catch up.  Good luck with Thranduil and I'll see you later."  He turned and hurried after Kili.

Elrohir draped himself around Elladan's shoulders again, "Persuasive even.  Let's go see how many people we can offend."

Elladan's grin was what Kili closed the door on. "Okay, so who the hell was that?" he asked, already heading toward the hunter's home.

"She's Thranduil's other childe, she predates me by a couple hundred years I think."  Legolas' lips quirked upward briefly, "I decided a long time ago that it was better not to ask exactly how much older she was."

"Huh," Kili managed. "I think... no, I can't remember if anyone ever mentioned her or not."

"Like I said, she left.  And, well, it's been a hectic period here," Legolas pointed out.

"I suppose," Kili said and then stopped. "Shit! I didn't mean for you to come with me, I don't want anyone following me."

"Where are you going?" Legolas asked, tilting his head to one side very slightly.

"You honestly have to ask that question?"

He shrugged, "Not really.  It's not like I'm going to tell anyone that's where you went."

"I don't want you knowing where it is necessarily either," Kili said.

"I don't have the _same_ interest in keeping it a secret as you do, but I do have an interest in doing so," Legolas replied, watching Kili steadily.

"...Because of Gimli?" Kili asked after a beat. Legolas looked away and nodded once. Kili paused a long moment, watching him. "Alright fine," he said finally.

Blinking twice, Legolas looked back at him failing to hide his surprise, "Really?"

"Whatever," Kili said. "I'm pretty sure the elders all know where we live anyway. I'm fairly certain you do too. Doesn't matter, I guess."

Legolas bit the tip of his tongue to remind himself not to correct the present tense in Kili's speech and simply nodded before managing a quiet, "Thank you."

"Whatever," Kili said again. "Just, if you get in a fight with Gimli before tomorrow and fuck things up I'll be pretty annoyed. And willing to throw you under that bus."

"I'm trying to fix things from the last, alright not really a fight," Legolas said with a shake of his head. "I won't fuck things up before tomorrow."

"Uh-huh," Kili said. "I actually haven't heard all that much about you two, but I bet you get into a lot of fights."

"Shows what you know," Legolas said, actually feeling relaxed around Kili for once.  "We haven't really managed to get into a fight yet.  Not saying it won't happen, just...hasn't quite yet."

"Uh-huh. No quarrels or tiffs either?"

"He told me he doesn't want to be a memory," Legolas muttered.  "We're still working through that one."

Kili stopped dead in the middle of the street. "Fuck," he managed.

Legolas came to a stop a couple of paces on and looked back over his shoulder at Kili, raising an inquiring eyebrow. "I hadn't thought about that," he said. "What... with everyone..."

The blond turned to face him fully, pausing for a long moment, "You know I'm shit at saying what you need to hear in moments like this.  But don't grieve losses you haven't had yet."

"Fuck," Kili said again, not quite ignoring him but not able to move past the revelation so quickly. "Fuck!"

Legolas looked at a loss, half reaching toward Kili and then pulling his hand back again to tuck it into his pocket.

"I mean, everyone," Kili said. "But _Fili_. I knew about Fili it's why I almost turned him the instant I thought--but, to..."

"It's the curse of this life," Legolas said, quietly.  "Some people would say it's losing your soul or something stupid like that, but it's not really.  It's, it's living on."

Kili stared at him a long moment. "Okay," he said finally. "Not thinking about it. Have too much to worry about, I'm not thinking about it right now. Let's go."

Legolas nodded very slightly and fell into step with Kili again, "How often do you actually do this?"

"You don't want to know," he said. "Besides, I feel jumpy with the meeting tomorrow. So much could go wrong."

"A lot could go right, too though," Legolas said.  "But I know what you mean."

"I just want to see him again," he said. "Before... whatever happens happens. I know I'll see him tomorrow but it's not the same."

Legolas nodded very slightly, brushing his hair away from his forehead, "Yeah.  I can understand that."

"You're gonna try and get Gimli to talk to you, aren't you?" Kili said, ruefully.

"It would be nice to know where we stand a little bit better before I have to see him tomorrow."

"Yeah," Kili agreed and hesitated at the walls to the old estate where he had grown up. The walls were rather uninspiring now, but they marked where the property was. "Well, good luck," he said, scampering up the nearest tree.

Legolas eyed the tree and dismissed it just as easily, slipping into the shadows and pulling out his phone to call Gimli.

"What?" Gimli asked, having actually closed the door in his father's face to pick up the phone. "Please be good or world ending or something else."

"Not really either of those.  I wanted to talk to or see you before tomorrow," Legolas admitted.

"Um, now?" Gimli managed.

"Maybe?  Can you?"

"Where are you?" Gimli asked, wondering if he could breeze by his father--who was still lecturing him--or if he could go out the window.

Legolas paused for a long moment, "Outside."

"Outside?" Gimli asked, not understanding. "Outside what?"

"Outside the walls of your property," Legolas answered.  "Or I'm assuming that's what they're the walls of."

Gimli froze. "Son... of a bitch," he managed weakly. "Right. Out the window it is then."

Legolas suppressed a smile, having a feeling that it wouldn't be appreciated if Gimli could hear it in his voice, "I'll see you soon."

"Apparently sooner than I thought," Gimli remarked, already hanging up and considering his route out.

Legolas leaned back against the wall, letting his eyes slip closed as he focused on his other senses to let him know if anyone approached.  He had no idea what he was thinking, but he hadn't had much of an idea regarding Gimli in a while.

"What the hell?" Gimli said as he approached, spotting Legolas' hair before anything else.

Legolas' eyes opened and he watched Gimli approach, "It was this or let Kili wander the streets alone.  Which I think was his original intention."

"Son of a bitch," Gimli managed after a beat, stopping a few paces away from Legolas. "To both of you, actually, you both are."

Legolas shrugged very slightly and nodded, "You'll get no argument of that from me."

"What are you doing here?" Gimli asked, deflating slightly.

"I wanted to see you," Legolas said.  "And, well, like I said, Kili was going out on his own otherwise."

"Why tonight?" Gimli asked, realizing he was staring and trying to focus on Legolas' shoulder.

"Because tomorrow's feeling uncertain," Legolas said simply.

"More uncertain than anything else has been lately?" Gimli asked, a shade ruefully.

"Well, no, I suppose not," he replied, offering a wry smile.  "I just, I've missed you, and I didn't, I didn't want the first time we saw each other in as long as it's been to be with everyone there tomorrow."

"True," Gimli said after a beat. "That would have been possibly even more awkward." He shuffled his feet. "We didn't really end on a good note last time."

"No, we didn't.  And we've only barely spoken since then about things not related to this meeting," Legolas looked around and let his shoulders relax ever so slightly as he leaned further against the wall.

Gimli found his eyes drawn to the motion and he swallowed. "We really shouldn't be having this talk on the sidewalk outside my house though."

"Do you have a suggestion of where we could?"

"Uh," he shrugged. "No? Just not here. And not inside that's for sure. I think dad's still pounding on the door up there."

Legolas looked toward the tree which Kili had scaled and then nodded slightly, pushing off of the wall, "We might as well see if we can find somewhere better suited to it.  Carefully of course."

"Carefully," Gimli agreed, watching him.

Keeping pace with Gimli as they made their way down the street, his eyes never stilling as he focused on the shadows around them, Legolas spoke after a moment, his tone subdued, "I know I'm asking a lot of you."

"A lot? You're asking me for my life, and beyond that, and I haven't even been kissed yet!" he snapped. "Or dated anyone. Or done anything. That goes a little beyond just a bit of commitment."

"I'm not ask--" Legolas started to protest and then cut himself off, gritting his teeth, "And what, we're supposed to go our separate ways and act like even the possibility of this hasn't already affected us both?"

"How am I supposed to even deal with this?" Gimli asked. "How do I... my father has flipped out of his mind, incidentally."

"Your father found--of course he did," Legolas murmured.  "I don't even know if Thranduil would actually _care_ at this point."

"Must be weird, having the same sorta-kinda your dad for several centuries," Gimli said after a beat. It was easier to focus on.

"It hasn't been until recently," Legolas admitted.  "But I'm growing to understand more and more why his first childe left."

"Was he in hibernation or something?" Gimli asked. "And only now has come out as annoying?"

"I don't, I don't know.  He hasn't always been good, but he's been better."  He shook his head sharply, "But I'm not here to talk about Thranduil."

"No, though I'm not always sure what you are here to talk about."

"Us," Legolas answered, reaching out and hesitating before he touched Gimli.

"What about us?" Gimli asked, his original hint having gone so far over Legolas' head he was considering if he should try again.

"Just, just," he stopped and leaned down to kiss Gimli again without saying anything further.

"That's not talking," Gimli said, but before Legolas could reply again he pushed back into the kiss, hesitantly touching Legolas' blond hair.

Legolas' arm curled around Gimli's waist as he leaned further down into the kiss, his neck arching sharply.

"I thought I was going to have to make a sign," Gimli managed when he drew back, suddenly aware he had to breath and Legolas didn't.

Legolas' lips tilted upward very slightly and he stroked a hand over Gimli's thick red hair before tangling in it, "So what is this supposed to be then?"

"Kissing?" Gimli offered. "What do you mean?"

"I don't, I don't know what I mean, actually."

"Oh," Gimli said, and his fingers felt too thick for Legolas' fine hair. "No one has hair like yours," he said. "I mean, Fili is blond too but it's like the sun, like gold, and yours is totally different."

Legolas grinned at that, "So it's not like the sun or like gold then?"

"It," he scowled. "I want to say straw and that's not what I mean. It's lighter. Those are both heavy things, burning hot and sinking down. You, I mean, your hair... is different."

"Thank you," Legolas murmured after a moment's pause.

"It's a cool yellow," Gimli mused. "Light but not ..." he shook his head. "I'm not good at poetry."

"I don't want a poet," Legolas said softly as he untangled his fingers from Gimli's hair, a couple of loose strands coming with them.

"Well that's good," Gimli said. "Because otherwise we might be in for a spec of trouble."

Legolas smiled and leaned down to kiss Gimli again, hand resting on his cheek with the little finger of that hand resting over Gimli's pulse point.

Gimli tilted up into the kiss, his entire body trying to shift up as close as possible.

Legolas turned them both so that Gimli's back was to the wall of a building they had been walking past, never breaking the kiss as he did so. Gimli startled before twining his fingers in Legolas' hair and bracing himself against the wall. One hand resting on Gimli's waist, Legolas leaned further into the kiss, parting his lips slightly.

Gimli banged his head back against the wall and sucked in a breath. "Okay. I can see why people make such a big deal."

Legolas' lips quirked upward almost imperceptibly, "About?"

"Kissing," he said, still breathing heavy.

"Do they make a big deal of it?"

"Do you not watch TV?" Gimli asked. "Or... or... I don't know. Listening to stupid teenagers when they were dating and I was in the library reading about obscure monsters or like, studies of Frank Lloyd Wright."

"Not really, and well I don't spend much time in the library at least not when teenagers would be in there."  He offered a wry smile, "It's difficult to be in there after school gets out considering the time of day."

"I suppose," Gimli managed. "Well, it's a common topic."

Legolas tilted his head to one side, watching the path his fingers took as he traced the side of Gimli's face, "I suppose I hadn't thought of that."

"That people my age gossip about kissing?" Gimli asked, smiling wryly.

"Something like that," Legolas agreed.

"Then I hate to tell you this," Gimli said, almost teasing. "But it happens a lot."

"That they gossip or that I haven't thought of it?" Legolas asked, smiling slightly and placing a hand on the wall next to Gimli's head, resting his weight against it.

"Both? I meant the first," Gimli said. "But both are just as effective." He was having trouble focusing on anything except Legolas' mouth. “We are talking nonsense,” he muttered, under his breath but not inclined to stop either.

Watching Gimli's eyes for where his focus was, Legolas suppressed the urge to smirk and instead let his tongue trace the curve of his upper lip almost absently, "Oh I'm sure they gossip, about a lot of things, some of them rather inane."

Gimli made a small strangled sound. "What? Oh. You have no idea."

"Care to enlighten me?" Legolas asked, letting his voice drop a level as he did so.

"No," Gimli decided finally, dismissing teasing and just pulling Legolas down again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awkward Thorin is awkward.
> 
> As a point of interest, Bilbo's coffee table lived for two years in VS and Medda's apartment. It was colonized almost instantly by VS' cat and seemed highly fitting for Bilbo.


	19. It's Under Your Skin

Thorin looked around the foyer another time, silently counting off who he was taking with him and who was staying behind. He had barely slept the last time he laid down, his mind too full of thoughts and questions and running down possible contingency plans.

"Those of you who are staying behind," he said. "Be aware of attacks or traps. This could all be a carefully orchestrated attempt to wipe us out." Though considering everything, Thorin hoped that wasn't the case. "Be on your guard until we return."

Balin nodded, glancing at those that Thorin had told him would be staying behind from the meeting, "We'll be sure to stay safe.  Be cautious yourselves."  His gaze darted from Thorin to Dwalin, holding his younger brother's eyes steadily for a moment.

Dwalin gave him a tiny nod to acknowledge the warning and request to stay safe all at once. "We're traveling at night," Thorin added, looking at those who were coming with him. "That always means to be careful."

"It's in a good neighborhood at least," Ori said, nervously. "I mean, so we don't have to worry about mundane crime. As much."

Thorin blinked as if he had forgotten what such a thing was.

"So only fangs, superhuman strength and speed and thousands of years of experience to worry about," Bofur offered where he was standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Something like that," Ori said, fingers twisted up in his scarf.

"We're used to that though," Fili said, watching Ori. "It'll be fine."

"Well, now that that's cleared up, we should be going.  Wouldn’t do to be late," Dis said, casting a look over the foyer as a whole, focusing for a moment longer on her son.

Thorin nodded, compulsively checking his watch again before he started for the door. "I don't have to tell everyone to stay together?"

"No," Gimli said, almost stepping on the back of Fili's shoes, which got him an arched brow from the man in question.

Bofur clenched his fists to keep himself still at the base of the stairs.  Thorin had made it clear before evening fell that he was to stay behind while Fili went.  Dis' eyes swept around those remaining one last time, catching the motion before she turned to serve as rearguard for the departing group with Dwalin.

Ori fell to walk between Fili and Dori, unsure which one he'd rather be closer to in that moment and dismissing where Dwalin walked with Dis. "It will be fine, Ori," Fili murmured and he nodded.

"Of course it will be," he said, and Gimli shook his head behind them.

Turning at a street corner, Thorin paused to count the group again, making sure that they were all accounted for, and that Dis, Dwalin and Dori were interspersed with the three younger. He still couldn't believe all three of the boys were coming with them. Dori met Thorin's eyes and nodded once to him before scanning their surroundings as they made their way through progressively better streets.

"This is in a good neighborhood," Thorin said under his breath, glancing at Dori.

"Which explains why we never found it," Dori replied at the same level, eyeing the improved street lighting and the modern style of the houses with distrust.

Thorin finally stopped, staring at the modern facade with its sharp lines and geometric shapes. "This can't be right."

"It's right," Ori said from behind his shoulder.

Thorin glanced back at him before staring at the house again. "Son of a bitch," he muttered and stormed up, slamming on the door.

The pause before the door opened was pushing the edges of polite.  The door swung open, Glorfindel arching an eyebrow as he stepped backward and offered a slight bow, his long blond hair pulled back and the tail sweeping down over his right shoulder, "Welcome."

Thorin's eyes darted to the vampire, considering him as he crossed the threshold. "Hello," he said. He felt like stomping his way across to show he didn’t have to be invited in.

Glorfindel let his eyes dart over Thorin and assess the others who had come, careful not to smile when he saw both Ori and Fili there.  "The Lady and Lord asked that we meet in the front sitting room here off the foyer, if that is suitable to you?"

"Yes," Thorin repeated, eyes darting around the foyer and up the stairs where Elladan and Elrohir had been coming down when the door opened. "Are the others there?"

"For the most part," Glorfindel answered, glancing at Elladan and Elrohir and offering them a flickering smile and arched eyebrow which Elrohir returned.

"Please, enter," Elladan said, looking like he was vibrating with not throwing himself at Ori in greeting. Fili and Thorin offered the twins the same sort of frown and Gimli looked terrified.

Elrohir set a hand on Elladan's elbow, nodding to the hunters, though he wasn't doing much better than his twin at keeping himself restrained as they entered the front sitting room where Galadriel, Celeborn and Elrond were already.

"They look related," Elladan murmured to Elrohir in the back, motioning to Fili and Thorin. Fili took up a position at the door, leaning his back there and looking at the twins as Thorin entered the room fully, inclining his head to the three vampires already there.

"So does she," Elrohir replied, barely audible even to Elladan as he nodded toward Dis who took up a position behind Thorin's left shoulder.

"They have the same frown," Elladan said, as much of a sing song as he could make it while remaining quiet.

Galadriel rose, her hands folded in front of her. "Thorin, of Durin's line," she greeted. "It has been many generations since I have spoken to one of your family in a manner such as this." Before continuing she looked over his shoulder at Ori. "Ori," she greeted, voice warming slightly. "It is good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too," he mumbled, looking both pleased and like he was aware of how intently Dori was watching him. Dori's eyebrows rose very slightly as he watched his brother and his reactions, half noticing as Glorfindel took up a position near one of the curtained windows.

Celeborn rose to stand beside his wife, letting his attention flicker toward Ori briefly before returning fully to Thorin, "We would thank you for coming to meet with us."

"May we please skip the pleasantries?" Thorin said, strained. "Everyone has been saying we need to work together. So what do we need to do to work together?"

Behind them, the door opened again and Kili slipped in. He hesitated before leaning on the wall next to Fili, the door closer to his brother. "Hello," Fili said softly and Kili smiled at him.

Celeborn's left eyebrow rose at Thorin's comment and he motioned to some of the chairs, "That is what we are here to discuss."

Elrohir elbowed his twin lightly and nodded toward Fili and Kili, even as half of Dis' attention shifted in that direction as well. Elladan couldn't tell if he wanted to roll his eyes or sigh.

"We should speak," Galadriel said, looking at Thorin and Dis. "The rest do not need to be here for this."

"Trying to separate us?" Thorin asked and she rolled her shoulders gracefully, Gimli staring at her again like he had the first time he saw her.

"Not quite. But while we work out the specifics there is no reason everyone must stand and listen to us argue."

"I'm not certain we're comfortable with that arrangement, considering this is your home and we've no idea either of your numbers or of what defense we would have should we be separated," Dis said.

Celeborn nodded once, "And what would make you comfortable for the time of the negotiation?"

"We could move chairs into the foyer," Elrond suggested, having remained seated and watched the hunters from there.  "It is not as comfortable but it is a direct route to the door if they felt the need of it."

"We can work on that," Elladan said.

"I'll help," Ori said, a shade too quickly.

"You'll what?" Dori said, eyes narrowing ever so slightly at his brother.

Elrohir did a swift count of the people in the sitting room and took a guess at who else might enter the meeting if given the chance the foyer would offer, "It shouldn't take too long to find the chairs and get them set."

“We are here to start working together,” Ori said.

"With chairs?” Dori started to shake his head before the question was even out of his mouth.

Ori shrugged slightly and Elladan pulled him with him out of the door. "Don't worry, we'd never hurt Ori."

"You are actually not a reassuring person," Ori hissed, making sure the door was left open on their way out.

"We could be the most reassuring people on the earth and they still wouldn't believe us," Elrohir said with a shrug.  "Come along, the more comfortable chairs that can be moved are this way."

Ori shook his head and both Fili and Kili had watched them depart, before Fili arched a brow over at Kili and the other had to stifle a laugh. They both stilled the instant they realized they had fallen into old patterns.

Dis' attention settled for a moment on her son and his vampire brother before she yanked her gaze away and tried to ignore the way the familiarity between them settled into her chest.

"I am surprised you agreed to the meeting at night," Galadriel said after a beat.

Thorin scowled, because the concession had almost killed him to make. "We both deserved the right to be able to leave," he said instead.

She smiled serenely at him and inclined her head.

Mere minutes later, Elrohir stuck his head back into the sitting room, looking toward Galadriel and Celeborn, "The chairs are set up in the foyer now."

"A moment, first," Galadriel said, holding a hand up. "As a sign of our goodwill, I have a gift for one of your line. A chance to return something, if you will." She moved to the back of the room, returning with a long package.

"What's this?" Thorin asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Though you may not believe it," Galadriel said. "In other times our families have worked together. It was long ago, but Durin gave me this sword. I now wish to give it back to your family." When Thorin took a step forward she shook her head slightly. "For Fili, specifically."

"What?" Fili startled, leaning against the wall still and Kili shifted slightly, as everyone in the room turned to look at Fili and thus realized how close they were standing.

Dis rocked back on her heels at that, blinking rapidly as she looked toward her son, and then darted a glance toward Galadriel, "Durin gifted you a sword?"

Glorfindel's attention snapped away from Fili after a moment to the package in Galadriel's hands and after a moment his lips quirked upward very slightly.

"Yes," she said, eyes drifting to Gimli before back to Dis. "Once, as I said, our lines were allies. Some of us were closer than others at the time." She gestured with one hand to Fili who hesitantly stepped forward. "This is intended for you," she said, meeting his eyes.  "And when a time comes, whoever you chose to pass it to and no other." With that she opened the box and lifted the sword in its old scabbard out, handing it to Fili.

Accepting the sword, Fili hesitated for a long moment before drawing it with his right hand, blinking at the shine and sparkle of it. "I--how old did you say this was?"

The corners of Galadriel's lips quirked. "It is Mithril. It shall never fade nor lose its edge. Once, Durin's people worked this metal, but it has been many hundreds of years since anything new was forged of it."

"Mithril," Dori breathed, eyes focused on the sword.  "Most of that has been lost for centuries."

"Yes," she agreed. "I am surprised that you still remember it."

"This is," Fili started and then stopped, sliding the sword back in the scabbard and sketching a small bow to her. "Thank you."

She nodded, holding a hand out to Celeborn. "We should move to the foyer then, if that will make you more comfortable." She looked at Thorin before breezing from the room with her husband.

Elrond slipped from the room behind Galadriel and Celeborn, Glorfindel unwilling to leave Kili alone with the hunters and thus remaining until they all entered the foyer.  Dis noticed the remaining vampire but looked toward her brother and spoke regardless, "It's a princely gift, at the least."

Thorin still looked somewhat floored. "I am confused," he admitted, walking into the foyer to see Dwalin glaring at where Elladan and Elrohir were still hovering around Ori, Elladan having dared to drape an arm over his shoulders.

Glorfindel ducked his head to hide a smile as he spotted the twins and carefully circled around until he was closer to the stairs.  Elrohir watched the hunters with honest curiosity, his eyebrows rising ever so slightly at Dwalin before he glanced at his brother and tilted his head in that direction.

Celeborn gestured to the chairs which were arranged in an even circle in the foyer, "Shall we talk terms?"

"Yes," Thorin said, approaching the elder vampires, leaving the younger on either side a little ways away from the main conversation.

Kili had followed Fili closely and was now fussing over the sword. "I... they wouldn't really let us see the mithril swords but I knew they had them," he said, Fili holding it against his chest. "Oh come on, you need to put it on."

"Kili," Fili said faintly but couldn't keep from smiling anyway.

"I'm giving it right back I swear," Kili said, taking the sword as Fili finally relinquished it to him, bending down to buckle it around Fili's waist. "On the left I think," he said, eyes flickering to the scars on Fili's left  hand. 

"Kili," Fili said, both fond and exasperated and Kili was bent close, hands resting for a moment on Fili's belt after he had finished buckling it. His eyes flickered up and stayed there for a moment before he stepped back, the motion just a little too quick to be human.

"There," he said, crossing his arms. "You look dashing and warrior like and everything."

Elrohir remained half draped around Ori even as he elbowed Elladan and darted a glance toward Fili and Kili meaningfully.  Even as he did so he tilted his head toward Ori, "So, how did you manage to swing an invitation to this tete a tete?"

"Oh for the love of fuck," Elladan managed, Ori watching Fili and Kili too.

"I quite truthfully informed them I was taking magic lessons from Galadriel."

That earned a snort, Elrohir's eyes still never wavering from Fili and Kili, "I still haven't figured out if you're just that brave or just that reckless.  Maybe both.  But I'm impressed."

"It seemed like a better idea than having them walk in here and have Galadriel or god help me Glorfindel go, oh where is Ori?"

Elrohir had to bite down on his lip to keep from laughing, "Stars and moon that would have been an experience."

"Yes. Which is why I was so keen on avoiding it," Ori said. "Do you mind? People are staring."

"I don't mind," Elrohir said mildly. He tilted his head toward Elladan, "Do you, brother?"

"I don't mind at all. In fact I'm quite comfortable here. Must be the knitwear."

"Alright," Ori said, "Let me try again. _I_ mind."

"But why?" Elrohir asked, managing to sound honestly curious though there was a glint of mischief in his eyes.  "It's quite comfortable here, as Elladan said."

"Because Dori and Dwalin are staring," Ori said. "And I think they're both angry and you don't have to go home with them."

"Based on naming conventions I'm assuming Dori's your brother, the one with silver hair over there?" Elrohir confirmed.  "But what does it matter about the other one?  Dwalin did you say?"

"Because he is loud and over protective and much bigger than me?" Ori offered. "And I happen to like him."

Elrohir actually uncoiled a little bit to look at Ori appraisingly and then look toward Dwalin and back at Ori again a slow smile spreading over his face, "Huh."

"Huh?" Ori repeated as a question.

"Huh," Elrohir nodded without clarifying.

"What huh? There is no huh, there is no huh to huh over here because there is nothing worth the huh."

Elrohir's smile widened and he looked at his brother over Ori's head, "Elladan, do you remember that play we saw centuries ago?  Before the Globe burned I mean."

"Something about the lady protesting too much?" Elladan returned.

"Huh?" Ori managed and seemed to realize what they were talking about. "I... I actually hate you. A lot."

Elrohir shifted his expression to something that resembled hurt and contrition, "What have we done to deserve such hatred, Ori?"

"You saw a Shakespeare play at the Globe, that warrants hate," Ori said.

Elrohir chuckled, "We saw _Hamlet_ at the Globe."

"Only making the hate increase," Ori said, distracted from Fili and Kili and Dwalin and Ori.

"We were in London long enough to see more than that, but Hamlet really does stand out in my mind for some reason," Elrohir admitted.  "Early seventeenth century is not a time that I would return to for the most part, but they knew how to do public entertainment."

Ori groaned, Dwalin's look possibly becoming even darker. Elladan cast a glance in Dwalin's direction, "What makes him so protective, I wonder?"

"Because he's a hunter," Orii said. "Could turn that question around on why I suddenly have a cortège of over protective vampires."

"Because you're both adorable and terrifying.  It leads to protectiveness somehow," Elrohir said with an easy shrug.

"See?" Ori offered. "Why should he be any different?"

Elrohir's lips quirked into a smile again, "No idea.  Why should he?"

"You were the one who asked why he was so protective, brother," Elladan said, watching the hunters, eyes straying to Gimli who kept looking around.

"Yes, I was, but I was hoping for more than a turnaround of why I'm protective in this situation," Elrohir answered, his gaze flickering to the entrance to hall that spun off behind the stairs as Legolas appeared there and froze indecisively.

"Well that's all your getting because that's all there is," Ori said.

Elrohir shrugged, dismissing the entire conversation with the motion, "Very well. Have you and the Lady determined when your next session will be?"

"I assume soon after this," Ori said, watching Thorin talk to the elder vampires.

Elrohir nodded, watching as Legolas finally made up his mind and slunk into the foyer, keeping to the edges of the room.

"Hello," Gimli said softly as he approached.

Legolas offered him a faint smile, "Hello."

"It's good to see--" Gimli started, blushing faintly because looking at Legolas all he could think about was kissing him the night before until his mouth ached, but he was cut off from a clatter at the top of the second floor landing.

"What the _fuck_ ," Erestor managed, having dropped the books he was carrying.

Celeborn turned his head, startled, as Glorfindel pivoted smoothly.  Glorfindel’s eyebrows rose in an expression of amused surprise and he moved a half dozen steps up the stairs toward the scholar, "As calm and unaffected as always, Erestor."

Elrohir's jaw dropped and he looked at Elladan, "Did you know he could swear like that?"

"No," Elladan managed and Erestor managed to stop gaping at Ori long enough to narrow his eyes at Glorfindel.

"Humorous as ever, my love," he snarled. "What is that?" he added.

"That is," Glorfindel broke off and his eyes widened ever so slightly, "I forgot to mention this didn't I?"

"You did," Erestor said dryly, Thorin having stopped talking to stare at him. Erestor bent down to scoop up his books before finishing his way down the stairs, stopping in front of Ori. "I assume that you're the one Galadriel mentioned?"

"Y-yes?" Ori managed. "I mean, if you're talking about recklessness or magical training or something along those lines."

"He meant the training, and probably your entrance here as well," Glorfindel said from where he had trailed after Erestor, looking mildly chastened.

“Yes," Erestor agreed, cocking his head to one side.

Dori shifted a half-step forward, having been as tense as he believed he could be with the two younger vampires draped over Ori, but with the focus of the two elder vampires on him as well Dori was reaching the end of his endurance. His eyes flickered from Glorfindel to Erestor, "What are you both reacting to so strongly?"

"Him," Erestor said, flickering a hand out. "And his, hm," he paused, frowning before looking at Dori. "Do you even know what power your family has? It's under your skin, dollops of it here and there. It's something that can be sensed if you're old enough and inclined enough," he said. "So, mostly vampires. But he," and he pointed to Ori. "Has that power, a magical inclination, and the determination to make it something else. He's like a beacon."

"What?" Ori managed. "I'm a what?"

"Frankly, I'm surprised you haven't been attacked your entire childhood," Erestor said and Ori paled.

"Huh?"

Dori's hand clenched tightly at that and he shifted toward his brother and Elrohir bridled and only kept from snarling because he knew Erestor wasn't actually threatening Ori.  Glorfindel brushed a hand over Erestor's elbow, his voice deceptively calm, "Careful, beloved."

"No," Erestor shook his head, looking at Dori. "I mean that he wasn't catnip for every half assed want to be sorcerer or demon is a miracle. Congratulations, I suppose, for keeping him hidden."

"You said magical talent," Ori said. "I thought anyone could learn magic." At least so the books had claimed.

"Anyone can," Erestor said. "But some people are innately better at it. I could teach him spells," he said, waving a hand at a random hunter, who happened to be Fili. "But it would take him six steps longer to reach a conclusion that would come naturally to you."

"He changed the sphere into a tea cup and saucer on the first try," Galadriel said, having been listening.

"Impressive," Erestor agreed. "How many times?"

"Ten," she said and Erestor looked like he wanted to swear again.

"Well," he said. "I suppose you showed up in the right generation then."

"They often do," Glorfindel said, his voice returning to its normal register again.  "The astonishing thing is that so few people notice them early anymore."

"Indeed," Erestor said, giving Ori another hard look before sweeping back around and approaching the small cluster actually trying to discuss the terms. "That's not what I came down for. I came to give a sense of immediacy to these proceedings."

"Have you?" Thorin asked, voice low and Erestor spared him a brief flicker of a look.

"Yes. I have been doing calculations, such as those I did last time. The next portal is going to open in three days, somewhere in the south side of town. I am trying to pin down time and place more closely but it is more difficult this time. After this, the portals will open closer and closer together in the lead up to the larger portal."

"Oh," Ori said. "I read... it would need at least three smaller portals to open?"

Erestor looked over his shoulder before nodding. "Yes. Though, one large enough for Smaug would require four portals. We've been lucky enough with the time between the first and the second. But the next one will be within a week, maybe two, and the fourth only a few days after that. Which means we also have an immediate need to kill the remaining demons from the first portal before a new commander steps through to lead them."

Glorfindel spoke from his place a step behind Erestor's left shoulder, "We think we've narrowed down the general location where they initially went to ground, but they've dispersed since then and unfortunately they're harder to track than one might generally think."

"So what solution is there to that?" Dis asked, "We've knowledge of patrols and fighting for the most part.  I don't see how we can guarantee to find them in time though."

"Well, we work together," Erestor said. "Wasn't that the whole point of this? Who needs terms and negotiations? You're focusing on small details when what matters is the fact that doorways to _hell_ are opening up and spitting forth demons."

"I would not seen mine harmed by you," Thorin growled.

"You know, we do generally try to avoid that too," Elladan said and stopped, because Kili was standing right there and staring at them. Thorin had refused to look directly at Kili since he saw him.

"Yes and that's worked out so well recently," Dis said sharply.

Celeborn fixed both Dis and Thorin with a long look, "We've no desire to see our harmed by you either.  We came to talk of a ceasefire for the sake of the world.  Are you willing to do that or not?"

"No guarantee we can make will appease your heart," Galadriel said. "We have been trying and nothing has made you content. We must learn how to trust each other, and if that needs be through action, then so be it."

"Like our kind did once?" Thorin snarled and she pasued before nodding.

"We have little choice," Celeborn said, his voice calm but a thread of tension running through it that it would take centuries of knowing him to locate.  "The world is at risk of ending and neither you nor we can stop it alone."

Thorin's mouth thinned. "So what? We just work together?"

"Yes," Galadriel said. "Your hunting skills, our knowledge. For example, tomorrow a hunter and vampire should go after one of the demon nests. And we have some avenues that would be closed to us, you might wish to explore."

"Like what?" Thorin asked, sounding tired.

"There is a creature," Galadriel said. "Who lives under the city. It is neither human nor necessarily demon, but is old. It may be worth seeking its help but it would never treat with vampires."

"The great goblin?" Erestor asked in disbelief. "Are you... nevermind. Fine. Talk amongst yourselves, my warning has been delivered." And he turned to go back up the stairs, still holding his books.

Glorfindel hovered at the base of the stairs for a brief moment and then turned to follow Erestor rather than oversee the younger vampires as he had found himself doing more and more frequently since he had crawled out of hell.  Dori's attention shifted almost fully to the conversation between Dis, Thorin, Galadriel, and Celeborn, "Great Goblin?  Neither human nor demon?  What is it and what should we know about it?"

Galadriel shrugged. "An old creature. I will have a packet prepared with all information we have on it, but it is not much. It may know something, or have some old artifacts that might help. It is worth looking into at the very least, and you would know nothing of it without our help. So. Let us work together."

Dis pursed her lips, eying the ancient vampires before glancing at her brother, nodding almost imperceptibly when she caught his eye.

He let out a long breath and then nodded, holding a hand out. After a moment, Galadriel accepted his hand, shaking it before drawing her pale hand back.

"We should determine who will go out from each household tomorrow in pursuit of the demons before you depart," Celeborn said.

"Yes," Thorin agreed and there was a rustling several levels up on the stairs. Thorin's eyes snapped up automatically and he froze.

Celeborn turned halfway around, following Thorin's gaze and falling very still as well, his expression not changing but a muscle jumping momentarily in his jaw, "Thranduil."

Thranduil looked as startled as Thorin did for a moment, not even acknowledging Celeborn. "You," Thorin managed to hiss finally. "You, what are you doing here?"

"This is my, er, family," Thranduil said, looking slightly flustered for the first time is anyone's recent memory. "Though I believe they are regretting that."

"I can't imagine why," Thorin ground out.

Glancing between them, Celeborn focused on Thranduil again as he kept his voice calm, "You know one another?"

"We met, long ago," Thranduil said, still looking wide eyed and his cheekbones slightly colored.

"Met," Thorin repeated. "Yes, one could say that. I remember your hair being blond."

"It was, then," Thranduil said.

Celeborn looked back at Thorin, considering his most likely age but didn't say anything.  Elrond's lips twitched downward as he looked at Thranduil, "You were blond then?"

Elladan started counting on his fingers before looking at Ori. "How old is Thorin?" he asked in an undertone, noticing that Kili had gone white as a sheet and that Fili was watching his brother.

"I was," Thranduil agreed after a beat and Thorin looked like he wanted to smash the vampire's face in.

"Forty-one," Ori whispered back.

"Fuck," Elrohir muttered, only audible to Elladan and Ori who he was still twined around.

Dis' gaze darted from her brother to Fili and Kili, hesitating briefly at exactly how much paler Kili had become in the last few moments.  Celeborn offered Thranduil a long, steady look though there was definitely anger simmering in his gaze this time, "That's been a few years, now, Thranduil."

"Twenty or so," he agreed and Dwalin startled, looking at Thorin.

"Kili?" Fili asked softly. "Kili, what is it?"

"Nothing," he said back, not as convincing as he wished he had sounded. "It--it's nothing."

"And how did you meet?" Celeborn asked, still watching Thranduil steadily.  Dis shifted her weight back on her heels, more and more of her attention shifting toward Fili and Kili as she recognized that Dwalin's full attention and at least part of Dori's was on Thorin and what was occurring there.

Both Thorin and Thranduil paused, looking away from each other for the first time to stare at Celeborn. "Um," Thorin started.

"Funny story actually," Thranduil said. "I can't remember if I saved you from fledges or human drunks anymore."

"Funny," Thorin repeated, not sounding amused in the least.

"The height of comedy I'm sure," Celeborn said, his tone completely flat as he watched Thranduil.

"Yes," Thranduil agreed.

"If you saved his life," Dwalin asked, voice low and threatening and Thranduil barely spared him a glance. "Why does he look so angry at you?"

"Prejudice?" Thranduil offered, still standing up the stairs and looking more and more disinclined to step down.

"If that's all it is, why don't you come down to the main floor?" Celeborn asked, a challenge flickering in his pale eyes.

"Because I have no need to," Thranduil said and Thorin seemed to snap, suddenly moving up the stairs. Thranduil startled, but did not move back.

Dis made an aborted move toward her brother at that, but Celeborn simply rocked back on his heels to make it implicit that Thorin was welcome to do as he pleased in the interaction. Galadriel looked resigned, folding her arms across her chest and Thranduil steadily met Thorin’s gaze as he approached, though something in him looked like it wanted to take flight.

"We need to talk," Thorin growled, almost reaching him.

"I'm fairly certain we've said whatever needed to be said a long time ago," Thranduil said, but let Thorin grab him and drag him away from the stairs, seeming to flow after him rather than be dragged.

Celeborn hummed, watching them go without ever changing expression.  He glanced at Galadriel before turning back to face the other people in the foyer, "I presume Thorin would prefer we wait to continue the discussion?"

"I presume," Dwalin said, looking rattled, though that was nothing on the expression Kili had.

"You think it wise to leave them alone together?" Dori asked, wishing he could get a read on the elder vampires.

"Not thinking Thorin's the one in a lot of danger at the moment," Dwalin said. "Or, for that matter, that the vampire is." He wasn't entirely sure what had happened or all the emotions that had been on Thorin's face, but the killing urge wasn't quite at the surface. "Yet," he amended.

Celeborn's eyebrow twitched very slightly at that, but he kept himself from saying anything, knowing how close to the surface his anger was simmering.  Dori glanced at Dwalin, studying him for a long moment before he nodded, "Very well."

Fili was still staring at Kili, who refused to meet his eyes.

"That was not what I was expecting," Elladan said into the silence that had fallen.

"I'm caught between thinking that’s better than it could have been and much, much worse," Elrohir replied, his tone almost subdued though he earned a glance from Elrond regardless.

"So, um," Elladan managed. "Any other ideas about what to pass the time while they're having their heart to heart?"

Elrohir bit back the comment that came to mind and shook his head very slightly, "Sitting and standing around in silence seems to be the order of the day."  He managed not to wince--so it hadn't been a good alternative but he thought it was a slightly better one.

Upstairs, Thorin slammed Thranduil into a side room, kicking the door closed behind them. "Do you mind?" Thranduil asked, flicking the ends of his hair back.

"I don't mind at all," Thorin said. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Living here," Thranduil said. "Which was apparently more of a mistake than I expected. I had considered not following when the rest of the line moved here two years ago and I'm starting to think that would have been wise."

"So you did remember where I lived," Thorin said, voice low.

"Of course I remembered," Thranduil said, almost snapping. "I would hardly forget it. You family has lived here for generations after all."

"Yes," Thorin said, drawing back and his spine straightening. "I could see where--"

"Oh, stop it," Thranduil snapped. "You have no right to be so offended at me."

For a long moment Thorin stared at him. "Don't I?"

Blinking, Thranduil deflated slightly. "You have reason to be offended at me, but not for the reasons I'm certain you are. What happened twenty years ago is meaningless now."

"I find it quite meaningful," Thorin ground out and Thranduil looked like he barely managed not to roll his eyes.

He rubbed a hand over his eyes before looking at Thorin again. "After this, you know they're all going to ask."

"I have no intention of telling anyone," Thorin said, stiffly.

"Oh good," Thranduil said, not looking like he was entirely pleased by that response. "So we don't have to get into the embarrassing details. Then what the fuck did you want to talk about?"

Thorin hesitated, his fingers curling into fists before he forced them to relax. "I was not expecting to see you," he said. "I suppose nothing."

"Nothing?" Thranduil repeated as a question, arching a brow and Thorin looked like he was going to hit him, his hands curled into fists again.

"You're right, what have we to talk about? You left--"

"Oh my god," Thranduil interrupted. "You look older, but you're not really that different, are you? Sorry, were you offended when you woke up and I was gone? Did you think I destroyed something? That we could possibly _be_ something? Make something work? That I would have stayed and we would have what, carried on some affair? Been in love and that would have somehow fixed anything? That it wouldn't have mattered that our families have centuries of history between them? That we would have stood a chance?"

Thorin had remained silent, watching him. "Are you done?"

"Funny," Thranduil said. "I don't think there's a single other soul that would have pegged you for a romantic."

"I'm pretty certain you don’t have a soul," Thorin said.

Thranduil shook his head, sinking down into the couch and spreading his long arms across the back of it. "Oh, I do. It's a little warped and twisted by now, but it's still there. No fantasies in this world about souless vampires, we are what we are."

"Did you think about it?" Thorin asked, after they had watched each other in silence.

"About," Thranduil started and shrugged. "Sure. But does that make you feel any better?"

"No," Thorin said and turned to go.

"I'm sorry," Thranduil said and that caused Thorin to pause and turn. "About... the... Kili."

Thorin froze, expression flat. "Excuse me?"

"I hadn't realized he was your nephew," Thranduil said and Thorin hadn't moved. "Not that it matters, in the end, but I'm sorry he was taken from you in a way you'll never accept."

Thorin took a step forward, Thranduil tipping his head back slightly. "Did you do it?" he asked, voice low and dangerous.

Thranduil blinked again, pale eyes watching Thorin. "Does it matter?" he returned.

Slamming his hands against either side of Thranduil's head, Thorin leaned down, and Thranduil's chin tilted back further, hair sliding over his shoulders. "It matters," he growled. "If you killed him."

"I didn't kill him," Thranduil said. "He was already dead. His lungs were fractured, his spine broken and several arteries were bleeding. He was dead even if he hadn't quite stopped breathing yet. It was a group of idiot fledges."

"And you just happened to be there," Thorin growled and Thranduil cocked his head slightly, leaning up so he could feel Thorin's angry breath against his face.

"Yes," he said. "I was following your hunters."

"Why?" Thorin demanded and Thranduil shrugged, otherwise not moving.

"I had," he started and considered, mouth twisting. "Seen something. I was following up on it, trying to figure it out. I hadn't expected the fledge attack either or I might have redirected it."

"I don't believe you," Thorin ground out.

Thranduil snarled, but remained still, their bodies tilted toward each other but not touching. "Fine. Would you really have rather me simply let him die a final death then?"

Thorin stared at him, thinking about Fili's face and his broken hand and the way he had almost killed himself. Of the way Fili still watched the vampire that had been his brother, of Dis being confronted with her former son when they entered the house that night. "Yes," he said and Thranduil suddenly pushed him, making him stumble.

"This is why you're an idiot," Thranduil said and Thorin lunged at him, even as Thranduil rose in one fluid motion. Hands twisting in his shirt, Thorin moved to slam him back against the wall but Thranduil twisted away, flicking his hands down with enough force to dislodge Thorin's.

"I should kill you," Thorin growled and Thranduil scoffed.

"You wouldn't even try," he said, ignoring Thorin's aborted step toward him.

"I could have changed a lot in twenty years," Thorin said. "I could be perfectly willing to stake your black heart."

"You've already proven you haven't," Thranduil said, and there was something old behind his pale eyes, something sad enough it made Thorin stop. "Don't worry. I'll make sure there's no reason for us to work together," and he left the side room Thorin had pushed them into, clicking the door shut behind him.

Thorin stood, counting the beats of his heart until he remembered where he was and stormed down the stairs. "We're leaving," he thundered, head whipping around to stare at him.

Dis nodded once at her brother before looking back to Galadriel and Celeborn, "We'll try two joint patrols tomorrow.  One to meet at the alley where the fight against the demons took place and the other at what remains of the mall.  Agreed?"

"Yes," Galadriel said, Kili looking desperately at Fili.

Dis inclined her head, "If you'll excuse us then.  Good night to you all."

“Good night," Galadriel agreed, Elladan finally disentangling from Ori.

Elrohir extricated himself from Ori, stepping back.  Legolas hesitated a moment before withdrawing from Gimli across the room as the older hunters started in the direction of the door. For a moment, the three younger ones paused before following, Gimli holding Legolas' hand for an extra moment before slipping away.

The hunters were a handful of blocks away from the vampire's mansion before Dori asked his brother the question that had been nagging at him, "How many of the vampires there like you?"

"Um," Ori managed, startled slightly. "I... four? At least? No, five at least."

" _Five_?" Dori managed, Thorin in the front of the group, walking in stony silence with Dwalin trying to catch his eye as he kept pace.

"Kili," Ori said mutely. "Elladan, Elrohir, Glorfindel, and Galadriel. So, five, at least."

"Maybe more," Fili said, remembering the tall and pale vampire that had swept in and then out again.

Dori let out a shaky breath at that, but nodded, "They seem...alarmingly attached."

"I," Ori started and then nodded, looking somewhat distressed about it himself.

"Just," Dori cut himself off, having no idea where he was going with that sentence as admonitions to be careful seemed futile at that point.

"Don't fuck up?" Ori offered.

"Be as careful as you can," Dori corrected quietly without quite looking at Ori.

"I will," Ori promised. "I mean... I'm trying." He didn't add that there wasn't a lot of room or time to be careful.

"Thank you," his brother murmured, glancing toward him.

"I will," Ori repeated. "I promise."

Dis had remained silent the entire way home, but once they were inside the house she rounded on Fili, tension in her entire form as she remembered both how he and Kili twined around each other and the two vampires who had draped over Ori and looked too similar to be anything but brothers in life, "What were you _thinking_?"

Fili arched his brow, honestly confused. "About what?"

"The vampire," she grit her teeth for a moment before managing to clarify, "Kili."

Fili blinked once before frowning. "We weren't doing anything," he said, folding his arms across his chest and vaguely aware that the others were in the foyer, having been waiting for them. The foyer felt cramped and dirty after standing for so long in the vampire's home.

"Wrapped around each other the entire time as though he were still alive?"  Dis' eyes narrowed and she mirrored her son's stance, arms crossed.  "No, nothing at all."

"We weren't," Fili protested, because compared to when Kili had a heartbeat and had been living with him, they had kept their distance, aside the moment with the sword and when Thranduil had appeared.

"It was more than enough," Dis replied sharply.

Thorin looked at Fili for a long moment before he turned, heading up the stairs without saying a word. Dwalin and Fili both startled before Dwalin followed him, no one else leaving the living room.

Fili forced his attention back to his mother. "We weren't," he repeated. "And I don't give a fuck what you say, he's still Kili."

Dis watched her brother go in shock before turning back to her son, "No.  It's not.  Your brother's _dead_ , Fili.  No matter what the vampire looks like, acts like or sounds like."

"How the fuck do you even know?" Fili asked, voice hard. "Have you even talked to a vampire?"

"God damn it, Fili," Dis snapped.  "Why can't you see that it's _not Kili_."  She motioned toward his hand which had been broken, "Would your brother have done that?  Would--" she stopped herself, gritting her teeth again.

"Would what?" he snapped.

"Forget it.  If you're really so desperate for your brother that you cannot see the corruption of that creature, there's nothing I can say that will change your mind," Dis drew herself up, her voice growing almost cold as she headed for the stairs.

 

Fili's spine tensed more and he stared at her, something cold behind his eyes. "That's it then?"

Dis turned at the foot of the stairs to face him again, her chin lifted ever so slightly, "What do you want me to say? Watching you with, with that vampire in the same space as those two who were draped over Ori was far from reassuring for your arguments, Fili."

"So how long exactly has it been since you've given up on me?" Fili said, tone mild. "Was it just tonight or were you more or less planning my funeral for a while?"

Dis rocked back on her heels, looking briefly as though Fili had physically struck her, "I haven't--"

"You have," he said, tone still mild, as if they were discussing the weather. "You're acting like I might as well have already died or joined him."

"Given the chance can you promise me you wouldn't try to?" She asked, managing to keep her voice steady, though her hand trembled very slightly where it rested on the banister.

“And you act like you wonder why I would want to get out of this family," Fili said, voice finally breaking. Standing by the door still, Ori froze.

Dis paled, looking at her son as though she didn't recognize him in that moment, "You tried already, you cannot deny that."  She stopped herself before she said anything more, trying to rein herself back under control and failing miserably at it, "I--we--can't lose you too."

"We," Fili repeated, tilting his chin back as he called her out on her correction. "And apparently not hard enough."

Bombur shot a look at his brother, the quiet man usually not willing to speak in front of the Durin's, because though they shared a profession and a house he felt like they did not welcome outside interference of any sort.

"Lad," Gloin said, the first to move, laying a hand on Fili's shoulder.

"Don't touch me," he snarled, jerking his shoulder away and trying to put as much distance between himself and anyone else in the room as possible, even though everyone else was silent and watching him and Dis.

Bofur had paled at Fili's words, taking a step forward but Dis moved faster, crossing the handful of paces to Fili her open palm connected with his cheek, her voice little more than a hiss, "How dare you.  How _fucking_ dare you.  You want to know how long I've been planning your funeral, your brother's funeral, my brother's funeral and everyone else's? Do you want to know why?"

"Do I care?" Fili asked.

"This life promised you a violent death from the day you were born," Dis grit out.  "I'm done trying to stave it off."

"Then why bother in the first place?" Fili asked, surprised the words didn't choke him.

"Because you _matter_.  Because you were the best thing to happen to me.  Because you were my hope and are my son.  But I lost you weeks ago.  I lost you the day Kili died.  The day _he_ ," her hand shot out and pointed unerringly in Bofur's direction though her gaze never moved from Fili, "told us that he had left your brother in that alley."

Fili stared at her for a long moment, shock and rage frozen on his face before he smoothed his expression out again. "You didn't lose me then," he said. "But you sure as hell have since."

Dis rocked back on her heels, any emotion that had reached the surface disappearing under an impenetrable mask.  She didn't say another word, simply turned and headed up the stairs.

Ori stared at Fili from where he was still by the door before Fili turned and stormed toward the kitchen, Bombur and Oin moving to allow him through.

"How," Bombur managed, to the empty space left in the room. "How did the meeting even go?"

"Better than expected," Dori replied, rubbing a hand over his face and noticing as Bofur slipped out of the foyer into the kitchen after FIli.

"I think we have something of an alliance," Gimli said, not meeting his father's eyes.

Gloin watched his son for a moment, pausing before stepping over and setting a heavy, yet gentle, hand on his shoulder, "That's good news."

"We're to have two joint patrols with them tomorrow," Dori said.

Ori had slipped into the kitchen as soon as he realized who was in there, stopping at the doorway to where Fili had stormed out underneath the tree, already pulling out his lighter.

Bofur approached Fili cautiously, stopping a few paces away.

"What do you want?" Fili asked, not looking at him.

"Just to check on you," Bofur answered.

"I don't need you to," Fili said, back stiff and he was pressed against the tree like it was the only thing holding him up.

Bofur looked at him for a long moment, "I know.  I wanted to."

"Well I'm fine," Fili said, daring Bofur to disagree.

Bofur shrugged in response to that before nodding, "Then you don't mind if I stay?"

Fili considered for a long moment. "No," he decided finally.

Bofur nodded once and moved to lean against the tree next to Fili, shoulders not quite brushing. "Do you agree with her?" Fili asked, after several moments of silence.

"About which part? I think you're getting better than you were right after."

"Do you," Fili managed, looking straight ahead.

"Don't you?" Bofur asked, glancing at Fili.

"Things are different," was all Fili allowed and hoped Bofur would read a yes into it.

Bofur nodded very slightly at that, "They are at that."

Fili's eyes slid over to him and away. "Were things quiet tonight? While we were gone?"

"Very.  No disturbances at all.  It was, unnerving is what it was," Bofur admitted.

"Maybe for once luck is on our side," Fili said, dropping his cigarette before it had had much chance to burn, stubbing it out with his toe before dragging Bofur around slamming their mouths together. Bofur made a startled noise in the back of his throat but immediately responded to the kiss, his hands coming up to tangle in Fili's hair.

Watching from the kitchen, Ori stepped back, making sure the back door was closed by unlocked. He stopped for a long moment, hand on the latch.

Dori spoke from where he had stopped in the doorway from the foyer as the rest of the hunters had dispersed for the night.  He recognized the look on his brother's face and also realized this might be something they could talk about that wouldn't devolve into a fight about his worry and over-protectiveness, "Is something the matter?"

"I think," Ori said and stopped. "I think I may have made a really bad mistake."

Dori considered that and reached out a hand toward his brother, "Come back to the cottage and I'll make tea.  You can talk about it if you want?"

"Alright," Ori said, checking the door again before following his brother.

Once they were closed into their cottage and Dori had set the kettle on to boil, he looked toward Ori, "What's this mistake then?"  He reached up, rifling through his tea cupboard and finding the blend that was Ori's favorite, preparing a couple of cups as the water boiled.

Ori's mouth twisted. "Have you been noticing Fili and Bofur?"

"Not much," Dori admitted, his focus had been on his brothers and Thorin's grief than on Fili and what was going on with the blond youth.

Ori looked down. "I think... they're not good for each other. I had hoped..." he trailed off again. "I miss Nori," he said suddenly, burying his face in his arms on the table.

Dori felt his breath catch at that and he rounded the kitchen table to Ori's side.  Pulling a second chair over, he gently touched his younger brother's shoulder, letting him know he was there if he wanted more touch rather than pulling Ori into his embrace like he dearly wanted to, "I know.  I do too.  It's not the same without him here."

"He was better at this," Ori said. "Figuring people out, how to not muck things up."

"Oh he mucked things up just as well as you or I can, he just had a way with people," Dori said quietly.

"Close enough," Ori said, taking Dori's hand and holding it. "I thought Bofur would be good for Fili, I did. I thought it would help. I think that was really, really wrong. I can’t tell which of them is using the other more, anymore."

"Why do you think so?" Dori asked, gently squeezing Ori's hand.

Ori's laugh was choked. "Watching them. I could be wrong. But I haven't seen them communicate yet."

The kettle went off and Dori extracted his hand to pour them the two cups of tea, setting one down in front of Ori, "They don't communicate?"

"They make out and argue," Ori said. "That's not the same thing."

"No, no that is quite far from the same thing," Dori curled his hands around his tea cup.  "You can't blame yourself for their mess, Ori."

"But I encouraged it," Ori said. "I told them both to--to do that. I suggested it?"

"And it's somehow your fault that they acted on it?"  Dori shook his head, "I'm not saying your conscience must be clear, but i--" He stopped, considering for a moment as he took a sip of his tea, "I suppose the question is what happens next."

"I don't know," Ori sighed, curling in on himself more. "My advice has not gone in a good place."

Dori paused, resting a hand on Ori's shoulder, "Have you talked to either of them about your worries?"

"No, my advice has done quite enough already, I think."

"It doesn't have to be advice, Ori."

"I'm just," he rubbed a hand over his face. "I'm so worried."

"I'm here if you need to talk more about it, but the only ones who can truly do anything about them is themselves," Dori murmured.

"Can," Ori hesitated. "Can we talk it out? I just... want to see what I'm actually thinking, I know it's been a long night for you and you don't have to listen to me but..."

"Of course," Dori said, rising and filling an actual tea pot to take with them, "Come on, let's go sit in the living room rather than in here.  Talk as long as you need to."

"Thank you," Ori said, picking up the cup as he followed Dori.

-0-

Dwalin stepped over the broken vase in front of the door to Thorin’s bedroom. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Do I look in any way like I want to talk about it?” Thorin asked, looking calm for having smashed anything breakable that came to hand only minutes before.

“Absolutely not, which is why you probably should,” Dwalin said, folding his arms and leaning against the wall, watching Thorin as he started to pace.

“We have an alliance, more or less,” Thorin grit out finally, after he had made two circuits of the room. “That’s what matters.”

“Is it?” Dwalin asked. “Thorin, you were missing for a week. Twenty years ago. Nice timing.”

“I’m not talking about it,” Thorin repeated.

“Which is why you ran off alone in their home?” Dwalin demanded and Thorin stopped. “It could have been a trap, he could have killed you.”

Thorin shrugged. “I could have killed him.”

“Right,” Dwalin said after a beat. “Thorin, what happened? You looked like you’d seen a ghost, some ghoul of the past and he said he saved you. What _happened_?”

Sucking in a breath, Thorin carefully let it back out. “I can tell you,” he said finally. “That you’re right. About that missing week. I never really told anyone about it. He saved me, and when I had thoroughly injured myself, treated my wounds himself. And after a week, he left. I didn’t see him again. I figured that was an end to it.” He did not mention that when he awoke with his wounds tended to, he had been tied down to the bed, or the awkward conversations they had, or what it felt like to kiss a mouth that did not breathe.

Dwalin frowned at him. “You really don’t want to talk about it, do you?”

“No,” Thorin said, turning away.

“Will we still be able to work with them?” Dwalin asked and Thorin nodded.

“Tell Dori, in the morning, that we need to get all the information we can find about the tunnels under the city,” he said. “And any references to goblins.”

“Alright,” Dwalin said and paused at the door. “If you want to—”

“I won’t,” Thorin said shortly, as much about the vampire as the mithril sword, and the way Kili had looked at Fili and the way Dis looked at both of them. He knew he should not have left them downstairs but he had felt his chest shaking, fragile and knew he wouldn’t be able to listen to the fight he could already feel brewing.

As Dwalin left, he sank down on the bed, burying his face in his hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spot the reference to Celebrimbor and Narvi in there (IE the Legolas and Gimli of the Second Age and the reason that the Door of Durin to Moria's password is an /elvish/ word for /friend/ VS WILL NEVER NOT BE CRYING)
> 
> Thranduil and Thorin are a trainwreck.
> 
> Dis and Fili BTW will never be the same again. 
> 
> Updating this chapter before VS heads off for a long weekend as VS' birthday and VS' father's are literally a week apart. So enjoy this clusterfuck as VS heads off to celebrate.


	20. What's the Rule About Strangers?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited to "Immortals" by Fall Out Boy on excessive repeat.

Beorn stopped at Bard's desk, leaning his hip against it as he drank his herbal tea. "I was going to get you a cup of coffee," he said. "To make sure you got home in one piece, but the coffee pot was empty. Again. I think I saw Vlask heading off looking harried. I guess the nice thing about having an officer like Vlask is, you always know whose fault it is the coffee pot is empty." He took another sip of tea. "Why are you still looking at the Durin files?"

"I think we should pool funds and get him his own coffee pot for Christmas," Bard muttered, running a weary hand over his face before rolling his head around to get the kink out of his neck.  "I'm still looking because either they have the worst string of luck known to man or something very strange is going on with this family."

"Is it actually our business?" Beorn asked, plucking one of the files off the desk and frowning at it. "This is from the 30s. I didn't know we had files that went back that long."

"It took some digging," Bard replied, shuffling files around on his desk until he found the notepad he had been scribbling on.  "Look at this list, missings, questionable deaths, and that's just the things filed with us.  I checked with the hospitals for recent months and found a suspicious ER visit too, low blood, major physical damage.  The man survived, but he was also part of this family."

"Okay," Beorn said slowly. "Is it our business though? Should we be trying to find excuses to question this family?"

"Probably not," Bard said, shaking his head.  "The latest missing filed with us is long past the point where something should have been heard if he was still alive, and it's not like there's more than a vague suspicion of god knows what to go on here.  I won't pass up an opportunity if it's presented, but I don't think we should go out of our way either."

Beorn gave him a long look. "Then why are you stressing yourself out over it?"

"Because the only other thing I've been given is the mall, and at least this has something beyond a gaping, inexplicable hole in the floor," Bard said, carefully closing the files and stacking them chronologically, newest on top.

"Uh-huh," Beorn said, finishing his herbal tea. "Just go home. Your shift's over."

Bard nodded, getting to his feet, "Yeah, yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."

"And, Bard," Beorn said, watching him pull on his coat. "If you do see the Durins... there's no need for you to get involved with whatever's going on in their lives. It might be better to simply let this one lie."

Bard offered him a long look at that, as though considering those words and then nodded easily enough, "Right.  Of course."

"You have enough problems," Beorn said and tapped the pile. "And apparently they do too. Bad luck or actual gang, it might be too much for you. Okay? Have a careful walk home."

"I'll be careful," Bard promised, not quite brushing off Beorn's concerns as he headed for the door.

Watching him go, Beorn sighed before retreating back to the hot water kettle for another cup of calming tea. He spent too much of his paycheck on it.

Bard kept to the busier streets on his way home, though he also took a more circuitous route than he usually preferred as he tried to determine if it was worth going by the mall one more time to see if anything had been missed in the last dozen or so visits to the site.  He found himself distracted from that train of probably futile thought by a near collision with a young blond man.  He stumbled over an apology as he processed, first that the other man was attractive, and second and far more importantly that he was familiar.

"Excuse me," Fili said, side stepping him, not really bothering to look at the man who almost collided with him except to flash him an irritated look, though it was both their faults they weren't looking.

Bard hesitated for a moment, considering Beorn's advice and then setting it aside, "Have you heard from your brother?"

Fili froze from where he was almost all the way around the other man and whipped back around. "What?" He had dropped automatically into a fighting stance, ready to strike out or run at a moment’s notice.

"It's just, I was put in charge of his case and I was wondering if you'd heard from him," Bard clarified.

"Go to hell," Fili settled for finally, unable to think of anything else to say. "I've never seen you before in my life, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

Bard sighed, realizing he might have skipped the first part of the conversation. "I've been put in charge of your brother's missing persons case and I came across you by accident and thought I would see if there was any change on your family's end in regards to that."

"I'm sure if there was, we would have let the police know," Fili said, snide. He straightened slightly, but stood loose and ready to move.

"I'm sure you would have," Bard said, managing to sound sincere rather than sarcastic.  He let his eyes wander briefly over Fili's outfit and paused for a moment on the sword the other carried, calculating the length and trying to figure out if it was worth it to write him up for carrying a bladed weapon that was longer than legally permissible on the street, "Nice...sword?"

Fili blinked before he shrugged. "It's a prop," he said, the lie sounding remarkably believable.

"A prop?"  Bard's eyebrows rose, "Some prop.  What’s it for?"

"Local film," Fili said, remembering Ori’s story about the night he and Gimli encountered the demons at the coffee place.

"I didn't realize there was any filming going on.  Fantasy inspired, I take it?"

"Something like that," Fili agreed. "It's amateur."

"It didn't happen to be filming over at a cafe by the movie theater a while ago, did it?"

"Might have," Fili allowed after a beat. "I just recently got involved in it." He took a step back, fully intending to just walk away when a form pressed against his back. He tensed, almost drawing the sword before he registered there was no heartbeat and started to relax.

"Oh, what are we talking about?" Elladan asked from near his ear and he tensed all over again.

Bard looked between the two new arrivals as Elrohir nearly purred from where he had his arm draped over Elladan's shoulder, "Filmmaking."

Elladan grinned. "Oh yeah. It's been great fun, but we need our dashing hero," and Fili barely managed not to let his snarl turn vocal.

"Were you the group filming at that cafe near the movie theater a short time ago?"  Bard asked, one eyebrow rising.

Elrohir smiled sharply, "Maybe, there's a few cafes there."

"Oh, was that the one where the vandals had already messed up the bathroom, making it such a great set?" Elladan asked and Fili turned his head to stare at him.

Bard just considered them for a long moment before nodding finally, "Yes.  Thank you for that confirmation."

"No problem," Elrohir offered blithely.  "Well, must dash, can't put off the filming tonight for too long."

"Yes, so much to do now that we caught our hero," Elladan said. "And isn't he charming? He's already in costume."

Fili wished that Elladan was the one who could see his face, not the police officer.

Bard's lips twitched very slightly as he suppressed his first response to that before shaking his head and stepping back to wave them off, deciding that it would be easier to simply follow them and figure out what the hell was going on than attempt to parse out the truth, "Good luck with your film.  Try to let people know if you see more vandalism to their private property _before_ there's a report on my desk, yeah?"

"Sure," Elladan said brightly as he dragged Fili with them. Elrohir waved cheerily as he followed, nearly stepping on his brother's heels.  Bard waited until they were nearly a block away before starting to tail them.

"Get off," Fili snarled, elbowing Elladan in the stomach. "What were you thinking, coming up behind me like that?"

"Gee, I don't know," Elladan said, and poked him in the side, getting a snarl and Fili took talk a step forward, before remembering he couldn't threaten the vampire. "But I felt you relax in that second before you heard my voice."

"Shut up," Fili muttered.

"Besides, even with that neck-chopper the Lady gave you, you have to have room to swing it, and coming right up behind you makes that difficult," Elrohir said simply.

"Brother," Elladan managed, covering his eyes with one hand, but he caught the way Fili tensed, and the way his fingers twitched. "He trusts Kili, not vampires. Try not to ping his hunter senses too hard."

"What the fuck where they thinking sending you?" Fili demanded, turning and stomping off in the direction they had been heading.

"Might ask you the same question," Elrohir replied.  "Considering the level of anger and resentment you carry toward all vampires not your blood brother."

"Compared to my elders, I'm downright friendly," Fili muttered. "And Ori sure as hell isn't coming out tonight."

"And our elders figured it was better not to send an ancient vampire out with whoever was sent to this location," Elrohir said, shrugging.

"So do you often get caught by cops?" Elladan asked, keeping pace easily with Fili, changing the subject.

"What? No."

Elrohir glanced at FIli, "So that would make this a first time for that too, then?"

"Apparently it's a night for them," Fili said, hand resting on the handle of his sword, as if reassuring himself that he had it, and that it felt well into his palm still.

"Here's hoping there aren't any more new experiences tonight," Elrohir murmured. Fili snorted, clearly not believing it. He stopped, looking around the alley.

"Do you hear that?"

Elrohir fell completely silent, hand moving to the pair of long knives he carried rather than a sword.  He turned his head toward the far end of the alley and nodded in that direction, "There."

Elladan floated away from his brother to draw his own knives, Fili drawing the sword and advancing in front of the others. Elrohir moved smoothly down the alley, senses on high alert, ducking and calling out a warning to Fili as the first of the demons lunged from the shadows to the left ahead of them.

Fili side stepped and ducked, swiping his sword around and hitting the demon only in its hunched over shoulder. Cursing he jumped back and kicked the demon, balancing with the sword before striking again.

Slightly behind him, a second demon ran at Elladan, who flashed his knives at the creature, taking out one eye. Elrohir pivoted, blades coming up to block a slice from a third's claws.  Lowering the knives just long enough to slash out with the one in his right hand, he was gratified by the spray of black blood it caused from one of the demon's arms.

"Good one," Elladan said and Fili almost back flipped to avoid the demon's claws.

"Well, they don't have much on the big white one," he said, the bruises from the demon still dark on his throat.

"I'm not sure that's making me feel better about it," Elladan said.

"Really not making me feel better about it," Elrohir agreed, leaning back and dodging under the claws, but narrowly avoiding getting bit that time.  "Damn it!"

"They have teeth, that's irritating," Elladan said, kicking a demon and throwing one of his knives at the other one, catching it in his throat. The demon only snarled and lunged forward. Coming up behind him, Fili swung the sword, cutting off its head. The sword gleamed in the lights of the alleys in ways that Fili wasn't used to and it was dangerously distracting to him.

Elrohir finally managed to get his knives moving the way he wanted to, slicing the throat of the demon he was facing, nearly decapitating it in the process and leaping back from its death throes, turning to see if either Elladan or Fili needed aid.

"Two down," Elladan said. "I counted five earlier!"

"Then let's take care of another of them," Fili said as one jumped on his back and he was born down to the ground.

Elrohir sprang in that direction, knives flashing to avoid FIli and distract the demon, spinning back from the claws and ducking one of the other creatures, "On your left, Elladan!"

Elladan glanced over, ducking as Fili tried to get his arms back under him enough to turn around and get the sword into the demon behind him.

Elrohir leapt back and had to fold himself into a roll to avoid a demon behind him, springing back up and lashing out at the creature, "Too many claws on these beasts."

"And teeth, it's the teeth that get me," Elladan said.

"Do you _mind_?" Fili yelled and Elladan kicked the sword toward him so Fili could grab it at the same time he dug his knives into the demon's back. Shrieking the demon reared back enough that Fili could flip over and stab the sword through the demon's chest. He twisted the sword, pulling it up and down.

Elrohir positioned himself with his back to Elladan instinctively, letting his brother and Fili deal with the demon there as he attempted to keep a momentary clear for them to do so.  His knives ripped through the grasping claws of the nearest demon and he snarled, his fangs easily visible for a moment.

Fili shoved himself back up, tossing off the demon and Elladan turned around. "I think we brought knives to a sword fight, brother."

"No shit," Elrohir snapped over his shoulder, hissing when he didn't move fast enough and ended up with a bleeding cut on his upper arm.

"Am I killing all the demons?" Fili asked, staggering slightly before he got his feet back under him and the sword up. "Two more?"

"I hope to god it's not a bigger nest than this," Elladan muttered.

"Fuck, don't think about that," Elrohir growled at his brother before he spun around to meet one of the remaining demons, carefully guarding his injured side and blocking the next swipe of claws with his other blade.

"I'm sorta incapable of not thinking it right now," Elladan said and Fili came sweeping back around, taking off the arm of one of the demons, allowing Elladan to duck under its guard.

Elrohir managed to land a slice on the demon he was facing that nearly took it's arm off above the wrist and while it was reeling, ducked in and slammed his knife through its eye and pulled back again as the demon did the same.  It didn't drive the demon down, simply blinding it on one side and he swore, "Damn it."

Stumbling back, Fili braced himself against the wall just as Elladan stabbed under the demon's chin, twisting around. When the demon went down he followed it and sawed through the neck until he hit the spine.

Elrohir drove both knives into the sides of the demon's neck and used both its recoil and his own momentum backward to rip them forward, spraying black blood everywhere as the demon dropped.

"Through the heart or decapitation seems to be the only choices," Elladan said, leaning back and running a hand through his hair.

"Fuckers," Elrohir wiped black blood off of his face.  "Logically you should be able to stab the damn things in the eye and have it work.  But apparently _not_."

"Apparently not," Elladan agreed, pulling a pack of wet wipes from his back pocket, handing a couple to Fili whose face was covered with demon blood. "At least you wear leather," he said. "Gonna do shit for your hair though."

"Are you real?" Fili demanded but he accepted the wipes anyway.

"As real as can be," Elrohir replied, ripping a strip of cloth from his shirt with a muttered curse to wrap around the wound in his arm.  He figured that it would be a bad idea to come back from a patrol with a hunter needing to feed.

"Here, let me," Elladan said, leaning over his brother to tie the strip of cloth. Fili just shook his head, trying to clean the demon blood off his face.

Elrohir offered Elladan a slight smile, letting his brother help him and then doing a quick wipe down of his knives.  He startled at a sound at the entrance to the alley, just as he was sheathing the blades again.  Bard stood there, eyes taking in the scene before him and categorizing the gore as excessive but also not something he recognized, "Filming again?"

Fili almost dropped the wipe he was starting to run over his leather coat. "What?" he managed, more weakly this time.

Elrohir managed to recover himself quickly, "Yes, yes filming.  Hidden cameras, you know?"

"Seems a lot of effort for a local production," Bard approached, almost warily, still trying to figure out what he was actually seeing.

"We like to go that extra mile," Elladan said and Fili just looked down, still trying to clean his hair. "And we hope that we don't need to do more than one take, you know? More natural and all that."

"Difficult to get the," Bard paused, poking at one demon head with the toe of his shoe, "What do you even call this?"

"Black ichor is the term we're using.  It's a complex mixture of corn starch and other kitchen ingredients," Elrohir supplied.

Bard looked skeptical again, "Right."  His eyes darted toward Elrohir's arm, "You usually get yourself injured?"

"It's art, what can I say."

"We go what we must for our art," Elladan agreed. "Besides, it makes it more believable, right?"

"It also makes the alley look like a crime scene," Bard was looking less and less impressed with them and vaguely more horrified as the possibilities he might have to cope with if he stopped believing them sank in.

"What are you even thinking?" Fili snapped, suddenly looking up. "Aren't you a cop? Don't you have self preservation? What are you doing, following strangers alone at night?"

"Yes, yes, and I calculated the odds of my service weapon versus sword and," he glanced at Elladan and Elrohir," knives and came out ahead.  What happened here?"

"Filming," Fili said, deadpan. "Sword's a higher chance of hitting a moving target. I mean,” he amended as he realized what he had said. “If someone knew how to use it and it wasn't a prop."

"And do you?  Know how to use it?"  Bard asked, eyes flickering to one of the bodies at their feet that had a wound that was certainly not caused by knives.

"Abstractly," Fili said and dropped his gaze again, trying to make sure all the demon gore was off his jacket and face.

"You missed some," Elladan said, less concerned about the blood on his cheek, but he also had far less of it on him. "Your left cheek, behind your ear."

"So did you," Elrohir remarked, absently cleaning the blood off of Elladan's face.

"These are killing strikes," Bard said, gesturing to the bodies.  "Abstractly is not a word I would use."

"Isn't it?" Fili asked, eyes flickering back up. "You must know."

"Not often one sees sword wounds," Bard said, shaking his head and trying to figure out if he really gave a damn at the moment.  HIs night had gotten way too complex and he had been due home ten minutes before.

"If you'll excuse us, we had other locations," Fili said, starting to walk past him again.

Bard's hand snapped out and caught him by the upper arm as he passed, "Wait a moment, if you would."

"What?" Fili asked, tensing obviously.

Bard released him, looking him over for a moment, "Look, I have no idea what the hell is going on here, but a movie, really?  That's the excuse you lot are going with?"

"Ah for a way with words like that," Elrohir mused.  "What the hell indeed."

Elladan barely muffled his snicker and Fili looked briefly murderous. "You figure it out," he said, watching Bard warily like he was going to touch him again.

"What I'm currently coming up with is insane," Bard said.  "Why don't you spell it out for me?"

"Absolutely not," Fili snapped and only had Elladan's quiet shocked sound to warn him there was another demon. He caught sight of it just as it jumped from the roof, landing behind Bard and throwing itself at his back.

Bard heard the sound from Elladan and the rush of air behind him, throwing himself flat and rolling in the same movement, his gun in hand and aiming as he moved, though his aim stuttered slightly as he caught sight of the demon.

Fili yanked the sword back out from where he had sheathed it, pivoting to be between Bard and the demon, catching its claws with the flat of his sword and pushing back. Bard scrambled backward and to his feet as Elrohir unsheathed his knives and lunged past him to back Fili up.

Kicking the demon in the chest, Fili yanked his sword back, claws reaching past his guard to slash across his cheek.

Elrohir circled as best he could, coming to just past the demon's left shoulder and ducking in to slash at its side, drawing it's focus away from Fili momentarily as the vampire danced back just barely out of its immediate reach.

Taking advantage of the lull, Fili drew his arm back around to swing the sword in an arc, taking off the demon's head.

"Six, apparently," Elladan said, from where he was standing over Bard in a protective crouch.

"Good, you can count," Elrohir muttered, sheathing his blades again and instinctively taking a step forward to check Fili's cuts before catching himself and pulling back.

Bard pushed Elladan away and got fully to his feet, his voice lashing out like a whip, "Explain.  Now."

"We're not obligated to you," Fili snapped, used to Thorin and not reacting to Bard's tone. He turned, sheathing the sword again, having wiped it quickly on the demon.

"I can count," Elladan said in an undertone. "I don't think these were... um..." he faltered, looking at Bard and Fili. "Actually, we can talk about that later."

Bard drew a deep breath to try and calm himself, grimacing at the stench that was pervading the alley, "No, you're not.  But it would be...not nice but helpful...to know what just nearly killed me."

"Demons," Fili shrugged. "Sorry, it's not a movie."

"Did you have to spoil that?" Elladan whined. "I liked that excuse. It works really well on most, uh, mundanes."

Bard paled, reaching back and resting a hand against the dirty alley wall as though to reassure himself that something was solid in the world, "Demons?"

"Hellspawn," Elrohir supplied, slinking over to Elladan's side to half-apologize for being snappish in the wake of the sixth demon.  "But I did rather like the film idea.  It's not as though it's spoiled for all the hu--mundanes."

"You know, things that crawl out of hell?" Elladan offered. "Literally, in this case."

Fili snorted, checking his sword again before probing his cheek with his fingers.

"I got that bit," Bard nearly snapped before turning his attention to Fili and focusing on something he could understand in the moment.  "Those are bleeding pretty freely.  Do you have bandages?"  He glanced toward Elrohir, "That aren't currently part of your clothing?"

"It'll be fine," Fili said.

"Unless the demon had poison on its claws, in which case you're fucked," Elladan said.

"He's bleeding enough it shouldn't be _too_ much of a problem." Elrohir said, "I mean, the last ones didn't."

Bard glanced between the three of them, his eyes resting for a moment on the ring of yellowing bruises around Fili's throat, too large for the average human hand but very distinctly hand-shaped, before he drew himself together, "Is there any sort of defense against them?"

"Yeah, cutting off their heads," Fili snorted, considering his finger tips and the amount of blood on them before rooting around his pockets for a pack of tissues, pressing one against his cheek.

"Stabbing through the heart works too.  The eyes only blind the bastards and make them angry," Elrohir said, lazily.

"But they weren't like the other demons," Elladan said. "I mean, I think this pack was different. They might even have been following the commander for all we know."

"The ones in the alley," Fili started and realized they had once again fought in an alleyway. "Well. The ones with the commander did die easier. They also had less claws."

"Oh fantastic," Elladan said, not having wanted his suspicions so clearly confirmed.

"So what, we've got to drag _another_ head back for identification?" Elrohir groaned.  "I'm getting really tired of doing that."

"How many of these have you fought?" Bard asked after a brief moment.

"Which you?" Elladan asked. "Us you or him you? Because well, we've had three encounters and you're at... two?" he confirmed and Fili nodded. "But you attacked a fucking commander with your bare hands so you win."

"Several," Fili said instead of reacting to that, looking at Bard. "There were more of them at another battle."

"Portal, coffee shop, and this," Elrohir nodded, mentally tallying the demons in his head.  "Though admittedly we didn't do much beyond capturing one at the portal."

Bard drew a slightly shaky breath, "And how many of them do you think are here?"

"Well, that's the fortunate part.  The portal wasn't open very long, so it's not as though the host of hell is here, but there's still rather more of them than should be comfortable to anyone," Elrohir said.

"Galadriel was saying that there were two groups still mostly out there," Elladan said. "If we took the annoying one down, I call that a good night's work."

Fili gave him a long look before returning his gaze to Bard. "Right now, there aren't many. Apparently, they're going to try to open up more portals like the one that took down the mall."

Bard resisted the urge to groan.  He had wanted answers about the mall but it was not as though he could put "demons did it" in his report, "How many more?"

"Estimates are at least three, not counting the final one they're planning on," Elrohir said.

"And, what, we..." he briefly sorted through the conversation for the term that Elladan had used, "mundanes are supposed to rely on you all to stop them?"

"Yeah?" Elladan offered.

Fili just raised a brow at him and stared. "What else exactly are you expecting you could do?"

Bard's jaw tensed at that, "I don't know, but I'm not reassured by the thought of relying on you all for defense agains the armies of hell."

"Not much choice," Elrohir said.  "We know what we're doing, as you can see," he waved a hand at the six demon corpses littering the alley.

"Guns are useless against them anyway," Fili said. "For the most part. You might get lucky, but it would be, well, a snow ball's chance in hell of success against anything more than one."

Bard swore under his breath and ran a hand over his face, "Great.  So demons are real and trying to get into this world and you lot are the ones we're depending on to keep them from what, destroying it?"

"That's it in a nutshell," Elrohir said with a smile. "I like this one, he cottons on fast."

"I'd ask if we could keep him, but we just picked up Ori," Elladan said as suddenly another form dropped from the top of the building and Fili had almost drawn his sword again as he turned before realizing it was Kili.

"What are you thinking?" he managed, half panicked and half relieved.

"I was coming to check on you," Kili said. "Already finished my patrol and... what did you do?" he asked, slinking forward and prying the tissue and Fili's hand off his cheek.

Bard straightened up at Kili's sudden appearance, recognizing him from photographs, but put it down as the least strange thing that had happened that night, his tone almost light as he spoke to Kili, "You're missing.  Did you know that?"

Kili's head snapped around, the motion just a little too fast to be human. "What? Who is that?" He frowned, looking back at Fili. "Missing?"

Fili gave him a long look. "It's procedure, isn't it?"

"Oh," Kili said and nodded. "You're right."

Bard crossed his arms and his eyebrows rose, "It's procedure to file a missing persons report and then not amend it when you clearly know something further about the person who went missing?"

"It's complicated," Fili said, not looking at Bard as Kili tutted and fluttered around his cheek. "Stop it, Kili, it's fine."

"You're definition of fine is not one shared by literally another soul in the world," Kili replied.

Elrohir considered the sentence that flickered through his mind, but decided that he didn't want to face down Kili in over-protective about Fili mode and quashed the urge to speak.  Bard grimaced, "Yes, complicated.  I'll just go file the report under not missing but still gone then shall I?"

"Sure, do what you like," Kili said, not paying him attention.

"Kili, you're being rude," Fili said softly.

Bard opened and closed his mouth twice, trying to find a way to point out that Kili was actually being no more rude than Fili had been without actively saying as much.  Elrohir snorted slightly, shaking his head, "You're not much of one to talk."

"He's the older brother," Kili said, teasing. "That's enough, right?"

Fili gave him a long look before looking at Elrohir. "Shut up."

Elrohir shrugged ever so slightly, "Just saying."

"There's no need to point it out," Fili said. He turned to look at Bard again, Kili automatically falling in behind his shoulder. "Look, there's not a lot you can do about this. Just keep your head down and stay out of trouble."

"I'm a cop, you really think it's that simple?" Bard asked, eyebrows rising at that.

"What, were you supposed to be investigating the mall collapse or something?" Elladan asked.

"And the missing person's report," Bard said, gesturing toward where Kili was standing.

Elladan blinked. "Oh. Well. Shit."

"Mhm," Bard shook his head slightly.  "Not like one can put 'demons' as a cause."  He paused, "Though that was the source of the damage at that coffee shop too, wasn't it?"

"Oh, yeah," Elladan said. "Say, was there a missing person's report filed there?"

"Around that time, yes," Bard said carefully.  "Why?"

"Young woman?" Elrohir asked.

"Yes," Bard answered, still watching them warily.

"Yeah, she’s pretty much dead," Elladan said. "Big bite of their spine gone, sorta hard to explain."

Bard paled, looking distinctly ill, "I guess I'll be filing that one then."

Elladan shrugged. "Yeah, sorry, we had to burn the corpse."

Bard raked a hand over his hair, scowling at Elladan. “What a comfort, to have to tell her family she’s dead with no body as evidence.”

Elladan paused for a long moment before throwing his hands up. “I’m not supposed to have a lot of sympathy about this stuff okay?”

Deciding he did not want to ask, Bard ran a hand over his face. “I’ve got to get going,” he said finally.

Someone else came around the corner of the alley, Elrohir's hands automatically moving to his knives before Bofur spoke.  "Fili!  There you are!"

"What?" Fili turned around abruptly. "Bofur? What the hell are you doing?"

"Might ask you the same thing, since you left without anyone else," Bofur said sharply.

"So, technically, did you," Fili said. "Everyone else was already tied up with tomorrow morning."

"I wasn't, not exactly.  What made you think this was a good idea?" Bofur demanded.

Fili spread his hands out, where the demon corpses still were. "It seemed to work out okay."

"You shouldn't have done it in the first place!"  Bofur snapped, gaze darting toward the three vampires and Bard, frowning at the presence of all four of them.

Fili shrugged. "Maybe not, but what's done is done."

"Who's that?" Bofur asked, nodding toward Bard, recognizing the twins as vampires and figuring they were the ones who were sent to meet the hunters. He tried not to notice Kili.

"A police officer," Fili answered, glancing at Bard before focusing back on Bofur. Kili inched forward, hand resting on the back of Fili's back. "Apparently our family has too much bad luck to not look suspicious."

Bofur's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at Kili's motion, "Interesting.  We really ought to get back to the house."

"We'll take care of the bodies," Elladan said.

Fili frowned at Bofur for a long moment before looking at Bard. "I'm walking you home," he said.

Bard opened his mouth to either protest of thank Fili, but didn't get the chance before Bofur cut in, "Fili, are you serious?"

"Yes," Fili said, already walking away.

Bofur started to protest again, but Elrohir cut him off, "You're starting to sound as heartless as you lot accuse us of being."  The vampire glanced at Bard, "If you're taking him up on that escort I suggest going and catching up."  The police officer nodded once and hurried to keep pace with Fili.

"We can walk you home," Elladan offered. "I mean," he watched Kili slip away. "We'll probably have to escort Kili back from there anyway."

Bofur crossed his arms, eyes narrowing, but he nodded once, "Fine.  I'll help you with the clean up here then."

-0-

Fili stopped once they were out of the alley. "Sorry," he said, ducking his chin down slightly. "But you shouldn't be out alone at night."

Bard glanced back toward the alley, "No, don't be.  I'm beginning to see just how true that is."

Fili hunched his shoulders, hands sliding into his pockets. "Um. So which way do you live? Promise I’m not a crazy stalker, just demon hunter.” He blinked to realize how easy it was to drop vampire hunter as a title.

Bard gave him a look, but didn’t argue about what he might be. "Left up at the next intersection.  I'm over on Lake."

"Alright," Fili said softly, vaguely aware of Kili following them but not mentioning it to Bard.

Bard was silent for a couple of blocks before he spoke again, having sorted through a number of questions and discarded all of them, "Who was that last man?"

"Bofur?" Fili asked. "He, uh, lives with us. He and his two brothers. They," he paused, considering again. "We hunt vampires. Usually. Except currently we're allied with them because of hell portals opening up and threatening the whole world. And, he hunts vampires too."

"Vampires," Bard shook his head very slightly, "somehow that doesn't surprise me after tonight.  The other two were vampires?"

"Yeah," Fili said, not mentioning Kili.

"Quite the company," Bard mused, pointing ahead to a cozy two-storied grey house halfway down the next block, "That's home there."

"You," Fili hesitated. "Don't live very far away at all."

"That was a conscious decision.  It's cheaper to walk or catch a single bus than have a car in this city," Bard explained with a shrug.  "So when I was assigned to this precinct it made sense to have a house nearby."

"I guess," Fili said.

"It was also about what we could afford."  Bard said, turning up the front walk just as the door opened.  He got halfway up the walk before he had to kneel and sweep up the little girl who had come hurtling full-tilt out of the house past the babysitter.

"We put her to bed hours ago, I swear we did," the babysitter said, looking harried.

"Daddy, daddy, you're home late," the small bundle in his arms said, wrapped around his neck.

Standing still behind Bard, Fili had frozen, eyes wide.

Bard shook his head fondly, shifting the little girl to his left hip, "Tilda, you know you're supposed to be in bed so I can come up and say goodnight."  He looked toward the babysitter, offering her an understanding smile, "Thank you, Janey, I've got it from here."

"She heard you coming up the street.  Or she said she did," a girl a handful of years older than the one in Bard's arms said from the front porch where she stood watching them.

"And after that there's no way she would stay in bed," Bain said, standing slightly behind his older sister as the baby sitter said a thankful good night and left with a long look at Fili, who still looked flabbergasted.

Bard tilted his head to look at Tilda, "Did you behave yourself for Janey today?"

"She tried to climb on top of the monkey bars at the park, and she snuck extra cookies after dinner," Sigrid reported before her little sister could answer one way or the other.

"I did not," Tilda protested. "I was good, promise." She seemed to catch sight of Fili for the first time, her eyes going almost as wide as his.

"You have...you have kids?" Fili managed.

Bard nodded very slightly, shifting Tilda again to keep a better grip on her instinctively, "Yes.  Tilda's my youngest, and that's Bain and Sigrid on the porch steps.  I hope you can understand why I might be a little bit less than reassured about relying on someone else for their safety."

"I, I guess," Fili said, out of his depth when it came to younger children or caring for them. He may have spent most of his life all but raising Kili himself, but Kili had only ever been a few years younger.

Tilda kept staring at him with wide eyes before suddenly launching herself at Fili, who caught her with a shocked sound.

Bard made an equally startled sound and shifted forward to take her back automatically, "Tilda!"  He calmed himself from his initial reaction, speaking again, "You know better.  What's the rule about strangers?"  He reached forward, putting his hands on her waist to start extricating her from Fili.

She curled further against his chest and he hoped that he had gotten all the demon blood off his jacket. "That strangers could be bad and we should not approach them unless daddy says they're okay. But he's so pretty!" and Fili almost dropped her.

Bard stilled, his hands still on his daughter's waist and his eyes darting up to meet Fili's briefly.  He was not going to admit that he honestly agreed with Tilda's assessment, since it was especially true in that moment with Fili holding her carefully though he looked terrified.  Bard sighed, his attention returning to the little girl again, "Yes, but that doesn't mean you get to jump into his arms.  Come on, baby-girl, he has places to be."  He nearly startled as Sigrid's voice came from much closer than she had been the last time he had looked.

"Dad, why's he carrying a sword?"

Scrambling for an answer, Bard looked at his oldest child and finally handed her the same lie he'd been given, "He's an actor."

"It's a prop," Fili said at the same time, Tilda burying herself further in his coat.

"I like his textures," she said.

"Tilda," Bard's tone turned almost coaxing as he took a step closer and set to work prying her fingers off of Fili's coat, murmuring an apology to the blond as he did so.

"It, it's alright," Fili managed but he jostled Tilda gently. "Come on though, back to your father."

"Sweetheart, he's got things he needs to do tonight, he needs to go," Bard murmured, finally extricating the three-year-old and pulling her back into his own arms.

"Where is he going this late at night?" Bain asked, still in the doorway.

"Acting... stuff," Fili said, and closed his eyes briefly at how lame that sounded.

"Too dark, isn't it?" Sigrid asked.

Bard shook his head, "It's not actually our business where he's going.  Now come on, you three.  You all ought to be heading to bed."

"I'll get Tilda up," Bain promised, taking his younger sister's hand when Bard set her down.

"I'll, um, go," Fili started, taking a step back.

Bard turned from watching his children go back into the house, offering FIli a very slight nod, "Thank you.  Stay as safe as you can."

"Yeah," Fili said. "And just... be careful. Kids like that... shouldn't be involved."

Glancing back toward the house briefly, Bard paused, nodding again, "No, they shouldn't.  Good night."

"Just, be careful," Fili said, resting his hand on the handle of his sword before turning and heading back down the pathway.

Bard watched him go for a long moment before going inside, the click of the lock following the closing of the door.

Before Fili reached the end of the driveway, Kili was standing there waiting for him. Fili paused as he reached the vampire. "Whatever you're going to say," he said finally. "I'm already pretty sure I don't want to hear it."

"Too bad," Kili shrugged. "I can't believe you left the house alone again. You promised."

"It wasn't technically supposed to be alone," Fili muttered.

Kili nodded as they walked. "So you and Bofur..."

"Now this I'm certain I don't want to hear," Fili said, shaking his head.

"He seemed pretty pissed at you," Kili said, stretching his hands over his head.

"I don't want to hear it," Fili almost growled and Kili, for once, dropped it.

-0-

Elrohir looked up as Fili and Kili approached, moving enough to be noticed and stepping forward, "We should be heading back now."

"Yeah, alright," Kili agreed, looking at Fili for a moment before moving to join the twins.

Elrohir paused for a moment nodding once to Fili, "Good luck."  With that he turned to head back to the vampires' mansion.

Fili watched them until they disappeared before pausing for a long moment, leaning against the front wall of the house and pulling out a cigarette. Bofur stepped out a few minutes later, his expression dark, but he didn't say anything as he moved over and stood next to Fili.

"It might be better to yell outside," Fili said, lazily watching the smoke. "Then inside."

"What were you thinking?"  Bofur grit out.

"That whatever tentative truce we have with the vampires is easier the less hunters interact with them," Fili said.

"I meant about going off on your own again to take a stranger home," Bofur all but snapped.

"He has three kids," Fili said quietly. "Besides, I wasn't alone."

 "You can't always count on Kili being there! That was what you were doing when you left here earlier too, wasn't it?"  Bofur ignored the comment about Bard.

"Not when I left here," Fili said. "But yes, I knew he was following me and the cop."

"And this doesn't even slightly concern you, does it."

"If it was going to, it would have when I first noticed him following me around,” Fili said, still not looking over at him.

Bofur's jaw tightened and his hands clenched, "You've got no sense of self-preservation anymore do you?  Not even the littlest bit."

"I'm not about to kill myself," Fili said after a moment.

"That isn't what I said."

"It's related," Fili said. "That's how much self preservation I have left. Which, frankly," he flicked the ash off the end of the cigarette with a little too much force. "You knew before you even got into this."

“You're going to get yourself killed, and you'd be happy about it too, wouldn't you?" Bofur snapped, watching Fili narrowly.

"Happy is not the word I'd use for anything I'm feeling right now," Fili snapped.

"You can't keep going like this, damn it," Bofur growled.

"And what, exactly, would your solution to that be?" Fili asked, finally looking over.

"Fucking hell, I don't know.  But it's not like you'd take any suggestions anyhow."

"You know, for someone who claims to love me, you spend a whole lot of time trying to fix me," Fili said, almost a yell.

"I do love you, damn it," Bofur snarled.  "I hate seeing you like this, but you won't let anyone _help you_!"

"I don't need anyone's fucking help," Fili snarled, crushing the cigarette against the wall before he burned his hand on it. "I need to figure this out on my own or it'll never matter."

"For fuck's sake, the way you're going there won't be _time_ to figure it out on your own!"

"Then maybe there just won't be time!" Fili thundered, his voice like Thorin's in that moment. "But you can't keep--we can't keep doing this."

Bofur took a half step back at that, "Doing what?"

"I don't," Fili started. "I don't know. I don't know exactly what I meant. But you don't trust me. I'm not sure I trust me either but this... isn't working."

"This?"  Bofur stared at him, "You mean, this?" He motioned between the two of them.

"I don't know," Fili said. "Something's wrong but I don't know what. Everything probably."

"Oh that's useful," Bofur muttered.

"God damn _it_ ," Fili spat out. "I may not be an expert on what love is, but it can't be this."

"Why not?" Bofur demanded.  "What makes this any less love than something else?"

"Because whoever you loved, if he existed, is long gone," Fili said and stopped, sounding lost. "I don't even think you like me that much."

Bofur fell still at that, "That's not, that's not true."

"Isn't it?" Fili pressed, though he looked like he wanted to run away.

"Why would you say something like that?" Bofur asked, feeling something destabilize under his mental feet.

"Because I feel sometimes like a dream you thought would be grand," Fili said. "And I'm not, I'm me, and I'm fucked up and I don't know what I want and I don't know what you want, but I know when someone actually likes me and you like what ... you hoped might be me."

"That's, that's not, that can't be," Bofur rocked back his heels, letting what Fili said fall into him and ping off something that seemed more fragile than he had thought.  "I never meant..."

"There's a lot of things people never mean to happen," Fili said, not meeting his eyes.

"I," Bofur looked away, biting the inside of his cheek for a moment.  "I'm sorry."

"Yeah?" Fili asked with a wry twist of his mouth. "So am I."

"So this is it then?"

"I guess so," Fili said, not looking at him for a moment before he stepped forward. Resting a hand over Bofur's chest he leaned up, pressing a chaste kiss to his mouth. "Thank you, for trying so fucking hard."

Bofur's lips quirked upward briefly before the ghost of a smile vanished again, "Yeah.  You're, you're welcome."

Fili offered him another vague smile before finally sliding into the house, slipping past the council between Thorin, Dis, Dwalin and Balin in the living room and only stopping in front of the doorway to his room.

"Fuck," he said after a beat and repeated it with more emphasis. He had gotten so used to sleeping in Bofur's room, he wasn't sure he could manage to sleep in the room he shared with Kili. He sat down in front of his doorway, considering if he could simply sleep out in the hall considering his exhaustion.

Ori paused at the top of the stairs. "Bofur just came in," he said, cautious. "That good, huh?"

"I can't sleep here," Fili said. "Hell, I'm not sure I can sleep alone right now either. Isn't that pathetic?"

"Not pathetic," Ori said, still careful as he moved closer. "So, um, you and Bofur?"

"Over, I think," Fili said and dropped his head on his knees. "But I'm not sure of anything anymore except I want a shower and I want to sleep and I'm not sure how to even achieve that anymore."

Ori paused for a long moment before holding out his hand. "You can sleep with me tonight," he said. "Getting you out of the main house might even be good."

"Ori," Fili started, wary and Ori frowned at him.

"Hey now," Ori said. "This isn't about that. I can deal with cuddles but more touching than that is strictly off the table, got that?"

Fili paused, thinking about Nori and the way he would punch Ori in the shoulder in passing, or sit sometimes on the couch while Ori read on the floor with Nori's arms heavy on his shoulders. They both had holes in their lives, even if Fili's was being filled by something that didn't quite fit anymore. "Alright," he said, pushing himself back to his feet.

"Also, definitely showering first," Ori said, linking their arms together and letting Fili lean on him as they went down the stairs. "Did you even sleep last night?"

"Not really," Fili admitted, the meeting too clear in his mind, and too worried about the future and thinking about the sword that he had left on Bofur's dresser that night.

Ori sighed, but carefully said nothing about Fili not taking care of himself. "Come on. Shower and sleep. I'll make sure you're awake to see Thorin off in the morning."

"Thank you, Ori," Fili said faintly.

"It's what I'm here for," Ori said. "Well, it sorta is. I don't mind." Ori dragged him all the way to the gatekeeper's cottage and pushed him toward the shower. "Just, you know, don't use Dori's shampoo or something."

"Yes, because that's what he really cares about," Fili said, leaving the sword leaning against the wall outside the shower. "I do mean that though, thank you."

"You're welcome," Ori said, and watched Fili close the door before going back to the cottage's kitchen and sitting down carefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We needed, um, non hunter or vampire characters really really badly.


	21. And Are Bagginses Tasty?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VS and VS' computer have declared all out war on each other.
> 
> This was not only an extremely difficult chapter to write but also a really infuriatingly hard one to edit (Not the least because of computer issues)

Balin tapped the map of the city plans that was rolled out across the table, "This is where you'll need to go down as best as we know.  Though it would be nice to have better knowledge."

Dori shook his head, "I've been through all the sources I can find, and even the information the vampires gave us, only really gets us that far."

"It seemed like they had no other information to give," Thorin said. "Which would make sense for an old creature they know of, but have never seen." Yet he sounded like he believed they were still holding out on the hunters.

"It also means all of you going down there have no idea what you'll be facing," Dis said, frowning.

"Which isn't really new in the past month or so," Dori replied.

"Or ever," Thorin muttered. "But if he--it--can offer any help we have to try."

"It might not respond well if we go in armed," Balin cautioned.

Dori nodded ever so slightly, "But we can hardly risk being otherwise."

Thorin sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "It's the question of balancing safety in numbers and weapons with our ability to negotiate." He sighed again. "And it's impossible to predict."

"A sword and dagger apiece," Dis suggested.  "Or similar armaments."

"And if you can hide anything else," Thorin said after a beat. "Stakes, on the off change ... there are fledges hiding in the tunnels."

Dori nodded, "And no more than a half dozen of us to go down, either I think."

"Who then?" Thorin asked. "Dwalin, you, myself brings us up to three."

"Take Bofur and Gloin," Dis suggested.

Thorin nodded before a knock came at the door. "Who would that be?" he asked, Dwalin already moving to take up a position on the other side of the door from where Thorin would open it. Dori followed them both into the foyer, a crossbow in hand, metal tipped bolt loaded.

Thorin hesitated another moment, a hand resting on his own sword before he pulled the door open. Blinking, he took in the old man with the long beard on the other side. "Excuse me?" he managed.

"Ah, yes, Thorin Durin," Gandalf said. "That's a mouthful, these human names don't quite work so well. Thorin of Durin sounds much better. Thorin of Durin's line. Thorin son of Thrain. Any of those would be better than Thorin Durin. Ah well." He thrust a pile of swords at Thorin, who caught them automatically. "I, meanwhile, am called Gandalf."

" _Now_ you appear?" Thorin asked, juggling the swords.

Dis stepped forward to help her brother with the swords before they ended up dropped, "About time you showed yourself."

"Oh, am I considered late?" Gandalf asked. "Which is just quantifiably false, I will let you know. I always show up precisely what I mean to."

"Which is after insisting we make an alliance with the vampires, and then disappearing?" Thorin asked, handing Dis several of the swords before dumping the pile on the table.

"At least I came with gifts," Gandalf said. "Which is a slight better than some. Besides, I had matters to attend to. One of which was getting you lot better weapons."

Thorin paused, lifting one of the swords and considering the cut of the blade.

Dis set the ones she was holding down, unsheathing one and pressing her thumb against the cutting edge, drawing it back immediately, "They are fine swords."

"Yes, well, they aren't mithril, but they are old, good quality," Gandalf said. "That one," he nodded to the sword Thorin was holding. "Even has a name."

Dori's eyebrows rose at that as he set the crossbow aside and moved over, "Swords haven't been given names in generations."

"No," Gandalf agreed. "They haven't."

Dori picked up another of the swords, testing it's balance even as he still spoke of the one in Thorin's hand, "What's its name then?"

"Orcist," Gandalf said. "Goblin Cleaver. Made the last time goblins tried to crawl up from the earth."

"Goblins?" Thorin asked. "Are those real then?"

"Yes," Gandalf said, as Fili entered the house from the back door, his hair not combed and starting to look shaggy from where he was forgetting to cut it. Thorin gave him a confused look before looking back at Gandalf.

"So, when he calls himself the goblin king, he honestly is that?"

"Well, perhaps a bastardization of the goblins of old," Gandalf said.

Dori glanced toward Fili, nodding to him very slightly as Dis spoke to Gandalf again, "Is there anything you can tell us about him?"

"Hm, he's old," Gandalf said. "Not as old as the vampires, but he's got an extended life for a citizen of the deep. Which means he's not friendly to those he takes as a threat."

"So be as little of a threat as possible?" Fili asked, smoothing down his hair.

"You are not coming," Thorin said and Fili looked at him.

"I know," he said, not really sulking. "I went out last night. We took out a nest of six demons, by the way. They were weird, the vampire posited that they weren't like the other demons and never followed the commander but, uh, were a separate breed or something."

Dori's attention moved fully to Fili at that, "I assume they're confirming whether that was likely or not?"

"They implied they'd look more into it," Fili said. "They had claws, and could only be killed by getting the heart out or beheading."

“And you fought six of them?" Dis asked, her eyes skimming toward her son.

"Yes," Fili said.

"Are you hurt?" Thorin rumbled, completely forgetting about the sword in his hands as he looked at his nephew. Gandalf's attention had also gone to him.

"Just the cheek," Fili said, the cut having scabbed over already. "Some bruises."

"You appear to be starting a collection of those, my dear boy," Gandalf said and Fili's eyes snapped over to him before going back to Thorin in confusion.

"So, you bring us swords and we know not to be too much of a threat," Dori said, considering Gandalf warily.

"There are many forces at work in this world, master hunter," Gandalf said, leveling him with a look. "I sadly, cannot be everywhere at once. That is what I bring you. And congratulations for not being such tradition bound idiots as to reject the vampire's help." He took a breath and looked at Thorin. "You would do well to be more trusting."

"Trusting?" Thorin managed, eyebrows going up.

"Yes, because we lead such a life to inspire trust," Dis said, eyes narrowing.

Gandalf gave her a long look, much like the one he had given Dori before turning back to Thorin. "I trust," he said, emphasizing the word. "You'll know what I mean when the time comes."

"What the hell does that mean?" Thorin demanded as there came another knock on the door.

Dis eyed the door considering they currently already had one more guest than usual, but moved over and opened it.  Bilbo stood on the other side, his eyes widening when he saw her, "Oh, I, sorry I was coming by to, that is."  He broke off and cleared his throat, "I was coming to see how the meeting--"  Bilbo's entire train of thought derailed when he caught sight of their other visitor over Dis' shoulder, " _Gandalf_?"

"Ah, Bilbo," Gandalf said happily. "I was just leaving."

"What?" Thorin snapped.

"Wh-what are you doing here?"  Bilbo asked, eyes darting from Gandalf to Thorin and back.

"Dropping off a gift," Gandalf said, patting Bilbo on the shoulder. "And a warning."

"Was that what it was?" Thorin muttered and Fili crossed his arms over his chest.

"You never do come with good news, do you?" Bilbo asked, looking up at Gandalf and almost seeking reassurance.

"No," Gandalf assured him and swept through the door.

Bilbo sighed, watching him go before turning back to the hunters, "I really did come by to see how the meeting went."

"Well, I think," Fili said finally and Thorin just looked back down at the sword. "We have a truce, at the least."

"Well, that's, that's something at least."  Bilbo let his gaze flit around the foyer, "You're preparing to go out?"

"There is apparently a creature who lives under the city," Dwalin said when Thorin remained quiet still. "We are going to find it, see if it has information, or will help."

"A...creature,"  Bilbo's tone was almost flat.  "What sort of creature?"

"He calls himself the Great Goblin or something like that," Dori offered, his eyes flickering to Thorin.

"'Goblin'?  They haven't been seen or heard of in eons," Bilbo murmured.

"Well, apparently we managed to find one," Thorin said, tone low. "We should leave. Someone get Bofur and Gloin."

Dis nodded, going to find them.  Bilbo hesitated, almost unable to believe he was going to say this, "I'm coming with you."

"What?" Thorin asked, finally looking at him.

"I said I'm coming with you," Bilbo repeated.

For a long moment Thorin stared at him. "Alright."

"What?" Dwalin gaped at him, Fili's eyes also widening.

Thorin only shrugged and turned back to Fili. "Where did you sleep last night?" he asked, still holding Orcist.

"With Ori," Fili said, answering the question without processing it because he was still staring at his uncle in shock.

"With... you slept with Ori?" Thorin asked, as Bofur and Gloin entered the room with Dis.

Bofur blinked twice at that, but didn't say anything.  Dori arched an eyebrow at Fili's phrasing but he had been in the cottage by the time FIli and Ori retired and had no actual concern as to what that meant, his attention focused on Bilbo, "Do you have a weapon."

"Well, no, not really."

Dori sorted through the swords, finally locating one with etching on the blade and a black hilt, offering it to Bilbo who started to recoil instinctively but caught himself, blinking t it very slightly before accepting it.  It was nowhere near as long as the other blades, but it fit his hand well, and he didn't feel the automatic tingling he always felt when he was close to iron.

Fili finally shook himself out of his shock. "Not like--No," he said, to Thorin who was looking confused even as he watched Dori and Bilbo. "It wasn't...No. We didn't do anything."

"You're the one who said it," Thorin muttered.

"Not like that," Fili grit out.

"Fili spent the night in the cottage, and rather than have him sleep on the couch he stayed with Ori," Dori explained, never taking his eyes away from Bilbo's reactions as the librarian carefully belted the sword on.

"But," Thorin started, looking at Bofur and shook his head, strapping the sword across his back instead.

Bofur and Gloin already had their weapons, having brought them down from upstairs and Dori was making sure his were concealed about his person, "We really ought to head out if we want to make sure we've got light going in and coming out."

"Yes," Thorin agreed, looking over at Dis and then at Fili. "Stay safe," he said, and Fili looked away before nodding.

With that faint farewell, the small group walked out into the morning air, heading for the entrance to the tunnels that Balin and Dori had mapped out. It was several blocks in the opposite direction from the vampire mansion.

The entrance to the tunnels was chained shut and overgrown, having once been a maintenance access hatch and long since disused, though records were hazy as to exactly why that was.  After some struggle with the chain and then with the metal grating itself, which had become partially buried in dirt and tangled in grass roots, the group was finally able to enter the actual tunnel, Gloin turning on the flashlight he carried as the tunnels were far darker than even a moonless night in the city.

"This is cheerful," Dwalin remarked, hand resting on the axe he carried instead of a sword.

"It's not supposed to be cheerful," Thorin said, taking the lead.

"Dank, dark, dreary," Bilbo offered rather than 'cheerful'.  He nearly slipped as the tunnel took a downward tilt, "And slick."

"Be careful," Thorin said, turning and reaching out a hand like he was intending to steady Bilbo before he realized what he was doing.

A ghost of a smile flitted across Bilbo's face and he nodded, "Watch my step, right?"

"Probably best if we all do," Dori said, stepping carefully over a loose spot in the tunnel floor.

"Just," Thorin shook his head. "Be careful. We don't know what's down here."

Bilbo nodded ever so slightly again, "I promise, Thorin.  I'll be careful." Thorin stared at him a long moment and then nodded.

They continued on in darkness and silence for a space that could have been minutes or hours, the tunnel curving ever downward, until they heard skittering sounds, too loud to be rats, and chittering noises of an unknown nature.  Gloin extinguished the flashlight, though it didn't take all of the light with it as there was a very faint glow ahead of them.

"What is that light?" Dwalin asked, shading his eyes as if that would allow him to see any better.

Thorin tilted his head back, listening to the sounds. "Be quiet," he said, voice soft. "Something's coming toward us."

"Or it's already above us," Dwalin said, hand going to his axe.

Bilbo shifted back toward the wall instinctively, shuddering as his skin crawled at the sensations he was gaining from whatever was coming toward them.

Dori's hand curled the weighted flail he carried, his gaze sharp but still inadequate in the near-darkness.

"And when they are?"  Bilbo's voice was only just audible.  "Y--we didn't come down to fight them."

Thorin took a step back, closer to Bilbo and drawing his sword. "They're not coming from below us," he said. "They're coming from literally above us." He glanced at BIlbo. "Not sure the fact we didn't come to fight matters."

A shrieking sound came from above them and what had looked like solid stone above them suddenly collapsed, small and twisted forms jumping down, chattering in some long lost language.

The creatures that had crashed through were far more accustomed to fighting and blocking in the narrow tunnels, even if they hadn't had the sheer weight of numbers as well.  Bofur and Gloin had gone back to back, but it was difficult to adequately swing a weapon without worrying about hitting one of their allies.

"Is it worth it trying to fight toward the light?" Dwalin demanded, beheading one with his axe.

"There could just be more of them," Thorin said, stabbing one of the creatures as it rushed at Bilbo.

"Or someone who can help us," Dwalin said as one of the creatures grabbed ahold of Gloin and started dragging him down the tunnel toward the light. "Damn."

"That's looking less and less like help," Dori said, trying to fight forward toward his cousin.  His left arm was grabbed, hard and he felt claws prick the skin without breaking it, curling his hand around the wrist of the creature he used his momentum to swing it towards some of its compatriots.

"We are not here to fight!" Thorin tried yelling, wondering if they even understood. One of the creatures reared up in front of him, mouth full of teeth.

"Your kind always fight," it hissed and Thorin's eyes widened to hear English. "You kind with swords."

Thorin twitched because at least it wasn't attacking him. "We are looking for a being called the great goblin," Thorin said, sword still held at the ready in front of him.

"You found him," the creature laughed, the sound like metal grating on stone and a larger creature swept Thorin up from behind, holding him tightly and crushing his chest until he dropped Orcist with a cry of pain.

Dori spun at Thorin's cry, Bilbo springing forward at the same instant, but neither of them able to get there, one of the creatures easily blocking Bilbo's path as another one sprung from behind Dori, yanking hard on his shoulders and off-balancing him. Bofur lashed out with the intent of reaching any of the others to help, but hands latched around the haft of his weapon and yanked it from him.

Dwalin roared, charging toward Thorin only to be knocked flat, the whole group of them picked up and pushed, the weapons stripped from them.

Bilbo ducked and recoiled from the creatures back into deeper shadows, willing himself to be forgotten and unnoticed, nearly gasping as it seemed to work and the others were shoved along the corridor toward the light.  He waited for a brief moment and then followed, carefully drawing the sword he had been given.  A skittering sound behind him caused him to turn and raise the blade, but before he realized what was happening one of the creatures collided with him and they both went stumbling against what should have been a solid wall which gave beneath them and they crashed backwards into the deep blackness beneath.

The others were shoved and prodded until they reached a large cavern. Thorin craned his neck back, still held immobile and in the air so he could not turn his head as much as he wanted.

"Filthy, bastard," Dwalin muttered, still trying to twist free, managing to get one arm out and he swung his hand at the creature holding him.

"Hold," Thorin said weakly. "We're not here to fight."

"I'm not sure they care whether we fight or not," Gloin said, trying and failing to get loose from the grips of the creatures around them.

"Doesn't mean we can't make an effort not to," Bofur replied.

Thorin was dropped abruptly, and he landed on his face, choking for a minute as he got his breath back and pushed himself into a sitting position. He froze as a twisted staff caught his chin, scrambling to his feet as the staff pressed upward. "And who?" a thick, angry voice boomed and it took Thorin a moment to focus on the mass in front of him. "Would dare come into my realm?"

"They came in armed, Great One," one of the smaller creatures said, dropping the pile of weapons on the ground out of reach of the hunters.

Thorin's eyes darted to the pile, and the goblin moved over, one hand still holding the staff pressed against Thorin's throat as the great goblin looked through the weapons, hissing in rage when it saw Orcist.

"The Goblin Cleaver," several of the smaller creatures scrambled backward as the sword was made clearly visible in their torchlight.  Others snarled, delivering intermittent blows to their captives who would dare bring that into the realm of the Great Goblin.

"What are you doing here?" the great goblin demanded again, jabbing its staff into Thorin's chest, causing him to stumble back. Dwalin started struggling again.

Dori nearly managed to break free as he jolted toward Thorin, but was hauled back harshly.  Bofur spoke quickly, "We came to talk, to speak with you, the weapons were for protection _before_ we reached your great realm."

The goblin turned to him. "Oh-ho? And to think, a human in my realm." It laughed with its whole body, the motion jostling the staff and thus Thorin.

Dori stilled at that, looking toward the Great Goblin in confusion at that choice of words. Between digging through old, sometimes ancient, texts to research what they needed to know and trying to stay a step ahead of Ori to keep him as safe as possible growing up he tended to hone in on things that didn't quite fit in a sentence, "Why the singular?"

"We are hunters," Thorin ground out. "Of vampires. We are all human."

The great goblin stared at him a long moment before rearing back, laughter only increasing but it was not touching him in any way for the first time since Thorin had been dropped at its feet. Thorin remained frozen, though, as the entire room seemed to follow their leader into laughter.

Gloin's face flushed in anger, his hands clenching, "What's so funny about that?"

"The line of Durin, aren't you?" the goblin demanded. "What makes you think you're human?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" Dori asked, eyes darting around as a ripple of sniggering passed through the smaller goblins.

"Durin wasn't," it said, waving a hand and Thorin froze.

"That's not possible," Gloin growled even as Dori paled, running through the heritage he knew of and how that could have been left out.

"Isn't it?" the great goblin asked, leaning back on its makeshift throne, made of discarded furniture. "You see well in the dark, don't you? Are hardier than other men."

"Fast enough reflexes to fight vampires," Dori murmured, not having meant to say it out loud. Thorin turned to stare at him as another laugh rippled across the room.

"Poor little hunters, did you convince yourself you were human?" the goblin crowed as Thorin finally realized Bilbo was not within their group. He desperately tried to cast his eyes around again and still could not find him.

Dori steeled himself, glancing toward Thorin, "There was no reason to think otherwise."

"Except every reason!" the goblin thundered and Thorin met Dwalin's eyes, panicked. He missed Dori’s look entirely.

Gloin rocked back on his heels and Bofur's eyes darted toward their weapons, calculating the distance and the chance of them actually getting to the blades.  It was abysmally low.

The goblin sat back, laughing on its makeshift throne. "Oh, you poor lost creatures. And yet you came down to my domain. Who sent your foolish feet hence?"

"No one sent us," Dori said, glancing briefly at Thorin.  "We came of our own accord."

"Found out from books where to find me, did you?" it demanded. "Armed yourself with ancient weapons?"

"We armed ourselves against what we might meet before reaching your realm," Bofur contributed, echoing the earlier excuse.  "One doesn't exactly know what else they'll come across that they weren't expecting."

"Happened to have weapons like this lying around in a bin gathering dust did you?" the goblin demanded. "Someone set you on to this place. I'd like to know who!"

"The world's going to end," Dori said, steadily.  "We came to ask your aid in averting it."

When the great goblin finally stopped laughing at that, it leaned forward. "And why, would I do such a thing?"

"If you won't help us, we'll be on our way," Thorin said, tone flat and that set the goblin off laughing again.

Gloin shifted onto the balls of his feet at that and Bofur rocked backward ever so slightly.  Dori shot a wary look toward Thorin and Dwalin before speaking again, "We apologize for taking up your time.  We'll just be going now before we disturb you further."

The goblin wasn't laughing anymore, jumping to its feel. "You think you can be so bold? To come here and leave at will as if you were guests on my front porch?"

"What would you have us do with the interlopers, your malevolence?" One of the smaller goblins asked from where it stood to the Great Goblin's left, just out of reach.  The sibilants in the question were drawn out around a mouth of extremely sharp pointed teeth.

 "Torture them," it said, waving a hand. "Perhaps they will tell us more. Perhaps their screams will simply be entertainment."

That garnered a round of sharp-toothed smiles and cheers from the assembled goblins as some at the back disappeared into the tunnels to fetch the most effective torture implements, while some near the front got a better grip on the hunters, making it impossible for them to make any move of escape.  Shouts from the crowd echoed down the tunnels with suggestions of what should be brought.

 Thorin leaned back, letting his weight rest on the goblin pushing him before shoving forward, kicking out at the goblins trying to hold him. Even though the fight was futile, he refused to give in. Beside him, Dwalin threw one of the smaller goblins over his head before he was borne down by a horde of them jumping on him all at once.

Just as Thorin felt himself start to fall, a blinding flash of light echoed through the chambers, knocking many of the goblins down and blinding them to their shrieks of pain. Unlike the hunters, many had never seen sunlight.

The goblins falling destroyed what little footing the hunters had left, driving them to the ground.  Gloin's hand closed on air and then on the handle of his axe, as he fell nearer the pile of their weapons.  The hunters were quicker to recover from the flash of light than the goblins, scrambling out from under them and catching up their weapons as they went.

The instant Dori threw Thorin his sword, he turned toward the source of the light, trying to figure out if that was going to be danger to them too and stopping for too long in shock when he saw Gandalf standing there, holding a long staff with a crystal that looked like fire blazing on the end.

"Run!" Gandalf yelled and Thorin obeyed the command before he realized what his body was doing.

"Where the hell did you come from?" he demanded, matching Gandalf's pace, Dwalin a step behind and followed by the others. "If you were going to end up here, why not simply come with us?"

"Can't you just accept your good luck?" Gandalf asked, sweeping several goblins off the pathway with his staff, a sword undrawn at his hip.

"No," Thorin snarled, beheading a goblin and following Gandalf.

Dori stumbled, ducking as Bofur swung the pickaxe he was carrying and connected with a goblin who had been aiming for Dori. Slamming the butt of the goblin spear he had grabbed into one of the creatures' heads and then stabbing forward to eviscerate one of the other goblins, Dori kept pace evenly with Bofur, Gloin just ahead of them behind Dwalin.

"We can't outrun them all," Dwalin said, ducking a blow, goblin blood smearing his face.

"Yes we can," Gandalf said. "We just have to get out of their territory." He finally drew his sword, swirling the long blade around his head, causing the goblins around him to scream and shrink back for a moment before surging forward.

"Another named sword?" Thorin asked wryly, somehow still managing dry sarcasm as he stabbed another goblin, throwing the corpse at several other and knocking them down.

"How far to where we can be out of their territory," Dori called, toward Gandalf, yanking the spear back from stabbing it through a goblin's throat.

"Just run," Gandalf snapped, beheading several of the goblins all at once.

Gloin muttered something that went unheard, lashing out and slicing a goblin's arm off, swinging his axe up to continue the sweep through the creature's neck.  He stumbled at the follow through, but Bofur caught his arm and hauled him back onto his feet as they kept running.

They ran for what seemed like forever, Thorin's back aching still from the night in the alley, and he was bleeding now from wounds in his arms, and his cracked ribs made every breath hurt. He tripped and almost went all the way down before Dori caught him just as the great goblin dropped down in front of them, almost landing on Gandalf's head who ran at the head of the party.

"How dare you come into my realm!" it snarled. It slashed out with long claws and Gandalf twisted back, sword and staff both held at the ready. For a moment they grappled before Gandalf whipped his sword around, neatly beheading the great goblin.

"Keep running," he urged as a roar went up behind them.

Bofur chanced a glance over his shoulder and his eyes widened ever so slightly as the tunnel seemed to be moving there were so many goblins, some using the walls and ceiling as they would the floor.  Catching his arm, Gloin yanked his attention back forward as they sped up again.  Dori kept pace with Thorin, keeping half an eye on him in case he tripped again.

"Close your eyes," Gandalf said, turning suddenly.

"What?" Dwalin demanded, Thorin too out of breath.

"Just close your eyes," Gandalf snapped and didn't look to see if they had obeyed before raising his staff again and yelling something in a tongue Thorin could not recognize, the ceiling of the cavern falling in behind them with a blinding flash of light and blocking the way.

"The only true safety is out of these tunnels," Gandalf said. "But we might have the time to reach the surface this way."

"You're a reassuring one," Bofur muttered, not having quite enough breath to speak louder.

"Where is Bilbo?" Thorin demanded, leaning against his sword and trying to get his breath back. "Has anyone seen him?"

"Not since the goblins first found us," Dwalin replied and Gandalf's head whipped around.

"Bilbo? Bilbo came with you? And you _lost_ him?"

"We didn't lose him," Dori said, eying Thorin and sizing up his injuries as best as possible.

Bofur shook his head, "He was there when they grabbed us."

"I'm fine," Thorin said quietly and Gandalf's face twisted. For a moment he stood, leaning on his staff and his brows furrowed.

"We keep going," he said finally and Thorin's head snapped up.

"What?" he demanded.

"Do you have any idea how to search for him?" Gandalf snapped and Thorin's eyes widened, mouth opening before he snapped it close.

"I do not take orders from you," he growled and Gandalf stared back at him.

"Thorin," Dori murmured, "we could be lost down here for good if we don't leave now."

Thorin continued to stare at Gandalf for a long moment. "You could trust me," Gandalf said after a beat and Thorin's eyes narrowed further.

"Fine," he growled. "We leave but not because I trust you."

"How far are we from the surface yet?" Gloin asked, leaning on his axe and looking Gandalf over with ill-disguised suspicion.

"No measurement would matter to you now," Gandalf said.

"Or you don't have a specific one," Dwalin said, also distrustful and Gandalf snorted, turning back up the tunnel.

"Would you really like to stand here and argue until they burrow through the rock or find another tunnel around?" he called back and Thorin sighed, starting the long path up behind Gandalf, the light of his staff their illumination.

-0-

Kili stopped in the doorway of one of the large rooms on the ground floor. He watched for several long moments as Tauriel sent several arrows down the room toward the targets that had been set up. Vaguely, he had know about the archery range for a while, but without Fili making snide comments about a bow and arrow he had not felt much desire to practice himself.

“I know you’re there,” Tauriel said after a beat and Kili startled.

“How?” he asked. “It’s not like we breath or make a lot of sound anymore.”

“You’ll figure it out,” she said, sending another arrow at the target, knocking one already there off center. “How to use your senses, I mean.”

“I use my senses just fine,” Kili protested and Tauriel finally turned enough to look at him.

“Right,” she said, slinging her bow over her shoulder and going to fetch her arrows. Kili watched her move, not sure what to make of her bright red hair or leather or predatory movements. He had started finally to adjust to the twins and Legolas’ awkward attempts at talking, and Arwen’s quiet viciousness but he had no idea what to actually make of the new arrival.

“Have you been shooting long?” Kili asked, watching as she took up her original position.

Tauriel snorted, swiping her hair back from her face before going back to aiming the bow. “Yes. Since I was human. It was lady like enough then.”

“How old are you?” Kili asked and she gave him another long look before drawing her bow back again.

“Don’t you know better than to ask a lady her age?” she asked and Kili could tell she was mocking him. “Oh well. Older than Legolas, let’s say that. Thranduil went a long time before he started turning anyone.”

“He seems to have been making up for it,” Kili muttered and her eyes flickered over though she did not turn completely again.

“It seems so,” she murmured. “Do you know how to shoot a bow and arrow?”

“Yeah,” Kili huffed. “I mean, it’s not common but hunters learn lots of different weapons. I really liked the bow, actually. I mean, when I was a kid it was my favorite though not very useful in the field I guess, compared to a crossbow.”

“Since you were a kid?” she asked, not commenting on what he meant by in the field and Kili swallowed, looking at the wall. He still had not entered the room fully.

He shrugged. “Well, hunter training starts early,” he said. “Really early. Like, by five I had some training in a sword and had taken to the bow.” He might have started even earlier than others, because he remembered all too clearly trailing after Fili and demanding to be taught the same things.

What made a bitter taste rise in the back of his throat now was thinking of how quickly Dis and Thorin had agreed to allow that. “It’s useful now,” he said instead of dwelling on those thoughts. “A lot of you vampires don’t actually know how to fight all that well.” He looked down at the targets. “I guess you got one weapon covered.”

“it’s different, not to be protected by a family, but to be on your own,” Tauriel said with a tiny shrug and set her bow down, unstringing it and coiling the string up.

Kili opened his mouth and closed it again. “I guess I could see that,” he said finally, because he had gone from one family to another.

For a moment they looked at each other, sizing the other up.

“The others were talking about card games,” Tauriel said, as if that was something perfectly normal.

“Yeah, alright,” Kili replied, and trailed after her.

-0-

As the wall gave way, Bilbo flailed out a hand to catch hold of something, anything, to slow his fall into what seemed a bottomless well of darkness.  HIs hand closed around a slick pipe and slid down the length of it but it abruptly ended far above the bottom of the pit.  The sword he had been carrying had fallen ahead of him, as had the goblin that had crashed down with him.

Hitting the ground hard, he felt something cushion the fall and close over his head and he gasped, clapping a hand over his mouth to stifle the sound of his breathing in case the goblin was around.  Using his free hand he felt around, discovering that what he had fell into felt not unlike deep-forest fungi.  Try as he might he couldn't seem to find his sword from where he lay and he started to push himself to his hands and knees to look further, but froze at a skittering sound from his right. 

He stayed beneath the overhang of the fungi, surprised that he could discern outlines, some sort of luminescence was coming from a distant corridor and, though faint, was enough for his eyes to make out movement.  The goblin was lying several yards away from him toward the corridor and it seemed to be dead, but he wasn't about to risk checking as the sounds grew nearer and a spindly figure emerged from the tunnel, lit from behind by the faint glow.

The creature was mumbling to itself, crowing and snarling in equal turns as it slunk forward, long fingers scrambling over the goblin. "Splash us and bless us, precious," it said, voice high pitched but masculine. The long fingers closed over the goblin's shoulders, checking it to make sure it was dead before dragging the corpse away. As he moved, something metallic and heavy fell out of the small pouch on his skinny belt, clattering to the ground in a sound that he did not seem to hear but echoed strangely.

Counting to one hundred in his head after the creature's shadow had disappeared down the tunnel, Bilbo slowly stood, nearly tripping over his sword.  He picked it up carefully and then moved over to where the creature's lost item had fallen.  The glow from the tunnel glinted on a plain sort of gold ring and the fae paused for a moment before scooping the band up to examine more closely.  After another hesitation he dropped it into his pocket and, seeing no alternative routes, slipped cautiously down the tunnel in pursuit of the mad creature.

The tunnel twisted and turned, the jagged rock on the sides and floor indicating that it was a more natural creation than the ones above.  Just when he was thinking that he would never reach the end of it, Bilbo emerged on the shale-covered shore of an underground lake.  The glow which had led him down the tunnel came from the way natural light somehow filtered its way into the cave, very faintly.  He could almost make out a rough outcropping of rock near what he assumed was the center of the lake, though the dimensions of the cavern were impossible to tell as the light was still barely enough to see by. 

There was movement on the island and the creature's voice echoed across the water to him, causing the fae to duck behind a stand of rock and close his eyes, drawing a deep breath and willing himself to go unnoticed.  Perhaps he could follow the shore of the lake and find another route up, or he could go back along the tunnel and see if there were any fissures that cut away and seemed likely.

There was a moment where the sounds continued before suddenly silence fell.

Bilbo felt his breath catch at that and he opened his eyes, his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword as he strained his ears to listen for even the slightest sound.  There was a breeze from somewhere that rippled the lake, and the muted splashing of the water on the shore echoed and rebounded but nothing else could be heard.  His only hope was that he would hear the creature from the island leaving it to return to shore after it had, well he wasn't much of a mind to contemplate that at the moment.

The spindly form dropped down in front of him, eyes huge and reflective in the low light. "Precious, precious, what is this?" he asked, voice high before suddenly dropping down into something gruntal and rougher. "Something to eat? It looks juicier than goblins. Yes, meat on its bones," and the form advanced, before being checked by a racking cough.

Bilbo jumped at that, fumbling with his sword, which shook in his grip as he leveled it with both hands at the creature in front of him, "Ah, ah, ah."

Shaking his head, he advanced again. His cough made a dark sound, similar to gollum, and that's what he thought of himself as now.

He slunk around the sword, not looking concerned by it, and his eyes glittering. "Looks plump," he said, the few teeth in his mouth catching the light as he grinned.

"Nonsense," Bilbo managed, though it was shakier than he would have liked and the word felt heavy on his tongue.  He shifted the sword again and let the tip rest firmly against the hollow of Gollum's throat.

"Nonsense?" Gollum asked. "Not nonsense." His voice got deep again. "It looks quite tasty."

"I've been told otherwise," Bilbo replied, pressing harder with the sword, trying to get Gollum to back away enough that he could move from the rock he was cornered against.

"What is it precious?" the high pitched voice asked.

"B-Bilbo Baggins," he stammered out automatically.

"And are Bagginses tasty?" the deeper voice asked.

"I've never sampled one," Bilbo's breathing accelerated.

"How'd it get lost all the way down here?" Gollum asked, slipping forward, sliding away from the blade and closer into Bilbo's space, one hand reaching his stomach and squeezing.

Bilbo recoiled, shoving Gollum back with the same move and slashing out with the sword to drive him back, "All that matters is that I _am_ lost and would like to be unlost.  If you'll point me the way out, I'll be on my way."

"Lost?" the creature asked. "And you need to find them. Oh," he cackled. "That sounds like a game. Does it like games, does it?"

"I," he blinked once at Gollum, "Sometimes?"

"Would it like to play a game?" Gollum asked, inching forward again.

Bilbo backed an equal distance, considering that for a moment, "What about a game of riddles?"

"Riddles?" Gollum asked, stopping and leaning back on his haunches to consider.

Bilbo nodded, lowering the sword ever so slightly, "Yes, how about you and I have a game of riddles.  And, and if I win," he paused, "if I win you have to show me the way out of here."

"And if you lose?" the high pitched voice asked before his voice lowered to a growl again. "We eats it whole."

Bilbo's eyes widened and he considered his chances should he lose before nodding, "Fair enough."

Gollum leaned back and crawled around Bilbo before settling back again. "Shall it like to go first?"

"I, I yes, I suppose I shall," he hesitated for a moment and rattled off the first riddle to come to mind, which after another moment seemed a simple one and he wasn't sure he should have. "Thirty white horses on a red hill, first they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still."

Shifting, Gollum seemed to consider, moving from side to side before stopping in the middle. "Teeth?" he asked, unsure. "Ah, teeth!"

Bilbo grimaced, nodding slightly and backing up another step, "Your turn."

Bilbo got the first riddle Gollum asked, and though Bilbo's second riddle tripped Gollum up for several long minutes, he remembered the taste of eggs from what seemed like another life time and answered correctly.

"Last chance," the creature said in his dark voice, watching Bilbo closely.

It took Bilbo far longer than he would have liked to admit, and more than a little luck to answer the last riddle Gollum put to him.  He shifted, tapping his fingers against his hip, trying to think of a final one on his own part, "Just a moment."  He let his gaze flicker around the cave, but saw nothing which inspired him.  His fingers came across a bump and he frowned very slightly, murmuring to himself, "What have I got in my pocket?"

For a moment Gollum didn't react before he screamed. "Not fair, not fair! That's not a proper riddle."

Bilbo startled, turning abruptly at that to face Gollum again, "Well, it's what I'm asking.  That's my riddle.  What have I got in my pocket?"

Gollum turned around and screamed before he whipped around and stared at Bilbo. "Three guesses," he said, holding his fingers up. "Three guesses!"

Knowing it wasn't a fair riddle, Bilbo barely hesitated before nodding, "Three guesses."

Fingers scrambling around on the floor Gollum made a high pitched keening sound before he leaned back. "Your hand!"

Bilbo held up both hands, "Nope, guess again."

"A knife," the dark voice said. "Or string!" he continued more brightly.

"Wrong both times."  Bilbo said, "That's your three guesses.  You've lost and you have to show me the way out now."

Gollum stared at him for a moment. "Yes," he said finally. "I'll show you out," but he started to slink away, fiddling with the ragged cloth he had round his waist.

Bilbo shifted as quietly as he could toward the tunnel, his hand curling around the hilt of his sword, "Well, come along then."

"A moment, a moment," Gollum muttered, movements growing more frantic and turning around in a circle.

"What's wrong with now?"  Bilbo asked warily, watching the already clearly mad creature seem more so.

"It's gone," he said, shocked and angry. "The precious is gone where is the precious!" and his voice rose to a high pitched wail.

Bilbo backed a couple of more steps at that sound, drawing his sword and glancing over his shoulder and wondering if he would actually be able to outrun a creature that clearly knew the tunnels better than he could ever hope to.

Gollum scrambled around, slowly coming back to focus on Bilbo once he stopped screaming. "What," he said, voice low and angry. "Does it have in its pockets?"

Bilbo raised the sword again, shaking his head, "Not part of the deal."

Gollum's wide reflective eyes narrowed and he started advancing. "What has it got in its pockets?" he hissed, crawling on all fours.

Bilbo backed up quickly, trying not to trip over his feet, "Not your concern."

Gollum screamed at the denial and charged. Bilbo turned and bolted back down the tunnel, his eyes darting frantically about as he tried to find a side passage that would hopefully give him another route out aside from what he knew was a dead-end.  He spotted one just ahead of him--discernible only by its deeper darkness--and ducked down it, feeling his heart sink as he realized it was barely an alcove hidden behind a wall of stone.  He started back toward the main tunnel but could hear Gollum getting closer.  A quick glance showed him a narrow seam in the rock that he could feel air moving through.  It would be a tight fit, but there was some chance and it was what he had.

Sliding himself into the crack he found himself caught because of the buttons on his coat.  Darting a panicked glance toward the main tunnel he struggled, straining against the threads that held his buttons on the coat.

Gollum came skittering around the corner, seeing him in the tight spot and lunging forward. Bilbo managed to yank himself through the crack in the wall, the buttons tearing off his coat and leaving that side in shreds.  He fell backward, one hand curling around the thing in his pocket which slid onto his third finger as he did so.  Immediately the world shifted and it was like someone had turned a light on--still only just enough to see by but he could actually see.  The edges of everything were blurred as though he was looking at them underwater as he got carefully to his feet, rolling out of the way of the crack, should Gollum pursue him through it.

Gollum came crashing through moments later, looking around and staring right at where Bilbo was laying on the ground before his eyes darted around. Screaming, he pounded his fists on the ground and ran off again.

Bilbo's eyes widened and he looked down at his left hand where the ring still rested around his finger.  Getting quietly to his feet, he followed Gollum, hoping that the creature was heading toward an exit of some sort.

Gollum ran, muttering about the precious and screaming about liars and Bagginses.

Bilbo almost cried out in relief when he saw light ahead and Gollum came to a halt just before reaching a cross-tunnel.  A handful of paces behind Gollum, Bilbo could tell that it was natural light and he had never been so grateful to see such a thing, but Gollum was blocking the way past--and there was no way to simply sneak around him. 

The fae  hesitated, his sword outstretched toward the creature before he drew back to administer a fatal blow and there he stopped.  Here he was actually contemplating killing a creature that couldn't even see him to defend itself.  A creature who, admittedly, had intended to do the same to him if given the chance but how long had it been down there living on only what it could catch, what it could kill.  The longer he stood there, the less he was able to bring the sword to bear until he finally lowered it.

Backing up a handful of steps, Bilbo moved quickly, vaulting over Gollum and feeling his foot connect with Gollum's bony back as he stumbled into the cross corridor and caromed off the wall toward the sunlight he could almost taste.

He came out behind Gandalf and the hunters, who were standing in the sunlight in front of the tunnel entrance. "We have to go back," Thorin said.

"We're almost out of daylight," Dwalin snapped. "Going back would be suicide we'd be coming out into the dark."

"If they're still hunting for us," Thorin snarled.

Fumbling for a moment, BIlbo finally managed to get the ring off his finger and he slipped it into his pocket as he spoke, "I hope you're not actually planning to go back into those tunnels.  I've had enough of them to last several lifetimes."

"Bilbo!" Gandalf said, turning from where he had been leaning on his staff and watching Thorin and Dwalin's argument.

Bilbo offered Gandalf a confused blink and then a shaky smile, "Gandalf.  When did you arrive?"

"At the right moment," Gandalf said. "As I often do."

"Bilbo," Thorin said, voice cracking.

Bilbo turned to look at Thorin, ignoring Gandalf rather abruptly as he raked his gaze over the hunter, trying to figure out where and how he was injured to be sounding like that.  He hesitated when his eyes met Thorin's and he managed another unsteady smile, "I'm glad to see you made it out in one piece."

"How... what happened to you?" Thorin asked. "I looked and you were gone."

"I--" His brain ground to a halt as he realized that his first answer was the complete truth and the second one a complete lie, "I fell through the wall.  I..." he shrugged, "Had to find another way out."

"How did you manage?" Dwalin asked, Thorin simply watching him.

Bilbo's eyes darted toward Dwalin and then toward the others who were watching with curiosity, "The tunnels were disused."

"How did you know the right way?" Dwalin asked.

"Dwalin," Thorin said. "Hold."

Trying his best not to look to grateful at Thorin's interruption, Bilbo moved a couple of steps closer to Thorin, "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"That you weren't," Thorin started in surprise. "Do not be. I was worried you had fallen and would have been lost, not that," and he fell silent suddenly, at the memory of what the goblin had said.

Bilbo's brows drew together in concern, "Thorin?"  He reached out, his hand moving to rest just shy of touching the wounds on Thorin's arms, "These need bound."

"It's fine," Thorin said automatically and Dwalin gave him a long look before he seemed to sigh silently.

"Bilbo's apartment is nearer," he said. "You could make sure he gets home safely and he can treat your wounds. I'm assuming you have the supplies," he added, staring at Bilbo.

Bilbo nodded distractedly by way of answer, "Yes, I’ve the supplies to treat these there."

"The rest of us should be getting back to let the others know we're all alive," Bofur said.

"Did anyone see which way Gandalf went?" Dori asked at the same time.

Bilbo barely glanced in his direction, "He does that."

Dwalin's head whipped around and he scowled. "Come on," he muttered. "We should get back."

The other hunters nodded and they left for home, BIlbo turning back to Thorin, "Come on, I'll get those bandaged and you should still be able to get home before dark."

"Alright," Thorin agreed, following him in silence.


	22. We All Need Something To Fight For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And super fast on the heels of the last update... have another.
> 
> (Please feed your authors on the way out, we greatly appreciate hearing from our readers!)

Thorin and Bilbo reached Bilbo’s apartment and Bilbo let them in, shrugging out of his tattered coat and tossing it toward the hooks without bothering to actually hang it up--he would probably need to replace it considering the damage. "If you'll sit down I'll see if I can find the bandages and alcohol to clean those cuts," he started toward the bathroom trying not to think about how the day had gone and how suddenly he had Thorin in his apartment again and without Dwalin there as well and his mind kept spinning in circles.

"Bilbo," Thorin said, catching his arm and spinning him around.

Bilbo's eyes widened as he looked up at Thorin, swallowing, "Yes?"

Thorin didn't answer, simply reeling him in and slamming their mouths together, hands cupping Bilbo's jaw. Squeaking slightly, Bilbo tensed at the initial kiss before relaxing, his hands resting against Thorin's upper arms as he stretched up onto his toes to ease the angle for Thorin.

Thorin moaned, rumbling deep from his chest and deepening the kiss, heat from Bilbo's skin seeping into his palms. Bilbo parted his lips beneath Thorin's before he processed exactly how bad an idea this was and pulled back with a gasp, "Thorin, wait."

Hesitating, Thorin’s body tensed as he pulled slightly back. "I will wait," he said, though it sounded like it pained him. "But I do not wish to talk."

"We need to, though," Bilbo murmured, his hand resting against Thorin's broad chest.

"No," Thorin said. "Not today. I cannot," he trailed off. "I cannot with talk any more today."

Bilbo hesitated at that, but knew he'd lose any resolve he had if he let it be, "I'm not asking you to talk.  Not really.  But you need to listen."

"No," Thorin said, even more forcefully, dropping his hands. "To listen is worse. I cannot anymore. There has been," and he shook his head, cutting himself off.

"Thorin we can't go any further than this without you knowing I’m not human!" Bilbo snapped before pulling back and clapping both hands over his mouth in shock.

Thorin stared, frozen completely. "What," he asked, no inflection in his voice and his hands dropped to his side.

Bilbo paled, breathing into his hands for a moment before lowering them enough to talk, "I'm not, I'm sorry I didn't mean, you weren't, I'm not human.  I'm, I'm fae. I didn't mean for you to find, to find out this way."

Still silent, Thorin stared at him. He thought of Thranduil with his long blond hair, of Bilbo's quiet smile when he came to the library, and of the great goblin's laugh. "A fae?" he asked, voice small.

Wrapping his arms around himself tightly, Bilbo nodded, "Yes.  It's never, it's never mattered before. I mean, I mean no one has needed to know before."

Thorin stumbled a step back, collapsing into one of Bilbo's chairs. For a moment he continued staring at him before he threw his head back and laughed, hysteria drenching the sound.

Bilbo's eyes widened and he rocked back on his heels, "Thorin?"  He could feel panic of a sort twisting in his gut and he tried to remember what he needed to do in this situation, drawing a complete blank.

The sound Thorin ended on was much more of a scream than a laugh as he rocked forward again, elbows on his knees. "Apparently, neither am I. Fitting, isn't it?"

There was silence for a long moment as Bilbo tried to process that, "You're...not?"

"If a being such as a goblin can be believed," Thorin said and curled his hand into a fist. He rose suddenly, eyes blazing and headed for the door.

"Thorin, wait," Bilbo said, instinctively taking a step forward and reaching for Thorin.  "Where are you going?"

"Where do you think?" Thorin asked. "To ask someone else who might know."

Bilbo snatched up the coat he'd discarded, following Thorin out the door and down the stairs to the street, "Thorin, wait, please. You're not thinking clearly. You’re also still hurt!"

"I'm thinking surprisingly clearly," he said, taking the stairs two at a time.

"So going to talk to vampires while still bleeding is thinking clearly?" Bilbo asked, skeptically, scrambling to keep up.

"Yes," Thorin said, long legs carrying him easily toward the vampire mansion.

" _Bleeding_ , Thorin.  Allies or not they _drink blood_ ," Bilbo protested, trying to button his coat up before remembering and simply pulling it around himself as he struggled to keep up with Thorin's longer strides.

"They claim to be able to control themselves," Thorin said, almost snide. "We might as well find out sooner rather than later if that is true." Bilbo considered protesting again, but realized nothing he could say would slow Thorin down and so turned his attention and energy to keeping up with the hunter.

The sun was inching down toward the horizon when Thorin slammed through the door of the vampire mansion.

"We have got to start locking that," Elladan said from where he was playing cards with Tauriel on the second floor landing, the sound at the door causing him to rise to his feet and sending off his snarky reply before he got a close look at who it actually was. "Holy shit."

"Un--" Kili started, having been watching the card game and coming now to the banister, eyes huge. "What..."

Arwen rose smoothly to her feet from where she had been sitting behind Tauriel to watch them play, staring in shock down at the foyer before hurrying off to find one of the older vampires.

Bilbo froze briefly just inside the door at the sudden focus of the vampires, "Thorin..."

"Did you know?" Thorin asked, taking the stairs up and his trained on Kili, focused on him for the first time since he became a vampire. His stomach twisted because he still looked exactly like Kili, down to his wide eyed stare of shock.

"You're bleeding," Kili said, fingers twitching.

"Did they tell you?" Thorin demanded. "A laugh, at our family's expense? A hidden secret?"

"What are you talking about?" Kili asked and Thorin finally stilled, still watching him.

Elrohir spoke, his gaze flicking from Bilbo to Thorin to Kili and back to Thorin, "Did something go wrong?" Legolas hissed at him to be quiet, leaning against the wall watching with wide eyes.

"What sort of something could go wrong?" Thorin snapped, voice like a whip. "That the great goblin is dead or that he opened his mouth beforehand?"

"I," Elladan stopped. "Huh. What did he open his mouth about?"

Elrohir stared at Thorin in complete confusion, "What?"

"Thorin, please," Bilbo murmured.

Celeborn approached, Arwen a couple of paces behind him, "What's going on here?" Still standing several steps up, Galadriel came to a stop and did not fully approach.

"You, I expect, certainly knew," Thorin said, finally looking away from Kili.

Celeborn's eyebrows rose at that, "There are rather a lot of things that you could be referring to.  What exactly do you mean?"

"About Durin," Thorin demanded.

Celeborn let his gaze flick around at the younger vampires, "Perhaps we should speak of this elsewhere?"

"Certainly not," Thorin said. "Is it such a big secret as that even to you, that we aren't _human_?" Kili's jaw dropped and Tauriel leaned back, spreading her arms along the back of her chair.

Celeborn fell still, noting the way that Elrohir's head snapped toward him and Legolas leaned forward, "No.  But we saw no reason to tell anyone who wasn't there at the time."

"That Durin happened not to be human? Do I even want to know what he was?" Thorin asked, still bleeding and glaring forcefully.

"Does it truly matter?" Celeborn asked.

"Perhaps not," Thorin said, eyes narrowed. "Funny though, that you failed to mention it when we were here the other night."

"Would you have listened to us?" Celeborn arched his eyebrow very slightly.

"Perhaps not," Thorin admitted after a moment. “But you sent us into the den of a monster on a whim and let him tell us instead.”

“And you do not find that the best behavior of an ally,” Galadriel said, and Thorin narrowed his eyes at her. “We did not send you there to die, only to see if he might be of aid in our desperate situation. Clearly, that was not the case.”

“Why did you not tell me?” Thorin demanded again.

“Because you would not have wanted to hear it,” Galadriel said quietly. “I am very old, Thorin of Durin’s line, and have many secrets. But it was not one you would appreciate to hear.”

"Wait," Tauriel said, waving a hand and Thorin frowned, not recognizing her. "Not human? Does that explain him?" and she flicked a hand at Kili.

Celeborn nodded once in answer to Tauriel, "Yes."

"That would have been _nice to know_ ," Elrohir pointed out.

"Um," Kili said. "What?"

"You adapted faster than--" Arwen started before glancing nervously toward Thorin, "Than usual."

"Because I'm not human?" Kili said.

Thorin bit back the comment that Kili certainly wasn't human anymore. "Is that common?" he asked. "That non-humans are different sorts of vampries?"

"It happens so rarely that it doesn't come up," Celeborn responded.  "But when it does, there are variations, yes."

"I knew something was weird," Tauriel said. "And you all said that it was just something weird and not to worry."

Thorin seemed to deflate, exhaustion and pain etching onto his face. "Well then," he said. "I suppose there isn't much to talk about. You knew and did not tell us, and yet seem willing to be allies anyway. And the great goblin is dead."

"I take that to mean it was less than obliging," Celeborn said.

"Excessively so," Thorin said. "Gandalf was even kind enough to give us swords it recognized."

"Gandalf has rarely had the best timing with his....help," Celeborn said, gaze flickering toward Bilbo when the fae shifted and his eyebrows rose again.

"Is he always so?" Thorin asked.

Bilbo finally spoke, "From what I've seen.  He comes with what he thinks will be best for you, though it isn't always apparent why at the time."

"I've noticed that," Elladan muttered, Tauriel the only one still watching Kili, who was looking between Thorin and Celeborn.

Celeborn looked Thorin over again, "Is there anything else we can do for you?  Or clear up?" Galadriel had fallen silent, watching Thorin with her deep eyes.

"No," Thorin said, stiffly. "Good day."

The ancient vampire inclined his head, watching until Thorin reached the door, Bilbo still following on his heels.

"Wait," Kili said, hoping down the stairs as fast as he could, which was far faster than any human. "That's just it? You come storming in here bleeding and that's it?"

"What else did you want?" Thorin demanded, turning.

"Thorin," Bilbo murmured, hand resting against the door and watching the two of them warily.

"You've not acknowledged me once before this," Kili snapped, stopping just in front of Thorin. "You come here bleeding and angry and drop something like that and intend just to walk out like that?"

"What have I to acknowledge you?" Thorin asked. "What are you to me?"

"I am," Kili started and stopped. "I remember you, you bastard. It's not like something was turned off in my head you still... you can't not just... you were my family!"

"You are not mine," Thorin said. "Whatever you are now, I don't know. But I don't trust you. I don't know you."

"I'm not that different!"

"Really?" Thorin asked, looking at the other vampires, where Kili had been sitting so comfortably moments before.

"You think something like that makes me different?" Kili asked, not even caring where they were standing. "You wouldn't even look at me the other night, you tried to shoot me the other one! Fili--"

"Leave your brother alone," Thorin said and Kili froze, staring at him.

"So you'll not call me your nephew but still call him my brother?" Kili asked and Thorin stared at him, back straight before slamming out of the door. Bilbo flinched, hesitating and glancing once more at the assembled vampires before opening the door back up to follow Thorin. "Thorin are you--" He stopped, realizing exactly how stupid a question that was.

Thorin stopped outside the mansion, having continued for almost half a block. "I don't want to go home," he said and looked up, laughing harshly. "How many years has it been since I had that thought?"

"I don't--" Bilbo paused again, "Your arms still need treated if you want an excuse to stay away for a bit longer."

"A bit longer?" he said. "A lot longer. But thank you."

"Come on, I'll wrap those cuts for you," Bilbo murmured, struggling not to recoil from the thanks.

"Tha--" Thorin paused. "That's because you are a fae, isn't it?"

Bilbo was momentarily confused about what Thorin meant but nodded when he realized, "Yes.  It's because I'm Fae."

Thorin looked at him for a long moment before he nodded. "Alright," he said, turning and going back toward Bilbo's apartment.

Once they were back in the apartment, Bilbo motioned toward one of the chairs, "Have, have a seat, I'll go get the bandages."

Thorin sank down. "Th... " he cut off in a frustrated sound and shook his head. "Sorry."

"Don’t be," Bilbo called from the bathroom, emerging with a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and a roll of bandages.

"I want," Thorin said and shook his head. "It was easier when I just wanted to kiss you."

Bilbo drew another chair closer and sat down, carefully starting to clean out the cuts on Thorin's left arm, "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" Thorin repeated.

"That you found out like this.  That, well, that pretty much everything that happened today happened. Except the kiss."

"Except the kiss?" Thorin confirmed.

Bilbo nodded, setting the alcohol aside and wrapping Thorin's left arm carefully, "Except the kiss."

"I suppose that is something," he said, watching Bilbo's movements. "Let us not think of the rest. At least for right now."

Bilbo hesitated at that, but nodded, moving to Thorin's right side and treating the cuts there, "Alright.  We can do that for now."

"Th," Thorin started and shook his head. "I appreciate it.

Bilbo offered him a smile at the cut off thanks, tying off the last of the bandages and setting the supplies aside and allowing himself words he rarely used because their typical precursors set him on edge, "You're welcome."

Thorin gave him a faint smile. "I... do not wish to return home at all tonight. May I make use of your couch?

Looking Thorin over and considering the way he had been carrying himself since they had escaped the tunnel, Bilbo shook his head, "No, but you can use the bed.  I'll take the couch."

"I... am already imposing," Thorin said.

"It's not an imposition," Bilbo replied, shaking his head.  "I offered it."

"I, still," Thorin said. "It is your bed."

"And the worst I got today, somehow, was a few bruises and a couple of small scrapes," Bilbo gathered up the bandages and alcohol. In the back of his mind, he silently added that he also got a ring that day, though he was not sure why that thought arose. "If it bothers you that much though, you can have the couch."

"I would rather," Thorin said, nodding to himself as much as Bilbo. "Please."

Bilbo nodded very slightly, "Of course.  Let me see about finding the spare blankets and pillows."

"You didn't have to do this," Thorin said. "And I appreciate it."

That garnered another faint smile and nod from Bilbo before he moved to put the medical supplies away and find spare bedding in his closet, "Can I get you anything else?"

"No," Thorin shook his head. "This is... this is enough."

Bilbo stuck his head out of the bedroom long enough to offer Thorin an incredulous look, but he disappeared again without saying anything.

-0-

"It was easier when you were distracting me," Fili muttered from where he was sprawled on the stairs, tapping one foot.

"It wasn't distraction so much as moving your stuff out to the cottage," Ori said. "So more for sanity." He sank down beside Fili too. "Though I admit the waiting was easier with something to do." They had moved Dori’s library into Nori’s old room and found a spare bed in the attic which combined with Nori’s old mattress to make the start of a bed for Fili.

They both knew, but didn’t acknowledge, that the next time someone came to live with them, or someone needed a new room, they would probably take Fili and Kili’s old room. Every time a hunter died, their old room was used for another purpose so that eventually every room in the house had been alternatively a bed room and a study and a library and then eventually a bed room again.

Dis and Balin came in, discussing the predicted portal of the next night in low voices, Dis sparing a brief glance for Fili and Ori.  Their conversation broke off as the door opened to admit those who had gone to see the Great Goblin.  Dis' eyes flickered over them and she froze when her brother wasn't among them.

"Where have you," Fili started, rising and going automatically for Bofur before he seemed to realize it. He stopped, hovering for a moment before mostly completing his motion and ending up next to Bofur, though he did not reach out to touch him. "Alright, stupid question. What happened?"

"We ended up having to fight our way out," Bofur said, watching Fili's approach.

"And Thorin?" Dis asked, her voice completely steady.

"He went with Bilbo," Dwalin said. "He is mostly unharmed."

"Mostly?"  Dis' eyebrow rose slightly.

"A few scratches and some bruising," Dori assured her.  "He'll be fine."

"And the rest of you?" Balin asked, looking them over.

Gloin answered, "Nothing more than some scrapes and bruises."

"It went remarkably well," Dwalin said, refusing to mention what the goblin had told Thorin. "He'll be back in the morning most like."

"I'm not certain fighting your way out qualifies as well, brother," Balin said wryly.

"Considering the creature wished to torture us I call it quite well," Dwalin said, voice dry.

Dis nodded once, "It's good that you all made it back, whole even."

Dwalin nodded and Fili frowned, eyes settling on Bofur again. Bofur offered him a weak smile and glanced away after a moment.  Dori caught the exchange and arched his eyebrows at his brother, moving over to stand by Ori.

"We will talk of it more tomorrow," Dwalin decided after a beat, Gimli having slunk in and positioned himself next to his father as well. Dis nodded once, sparing a glance in her son's direction but not saying anything.

Bofur hesitated but took a couple of steps toward Fili until they were close enough to talk but not too close, "Was it quiet here today?"

"Yeah," Fili said. "For, uh, once. It... wasn't nice but... you're really okay? I mean all of you but... you're really okay?" His eyes kept flickering, like he wanted to focus on Bofur but could not quite manage it.

Bofur nodded, "I'm--we're--" He stopped himself and nodded again, "Yes."

"Good," Fili said, and finally gave him a small smile. "Find out anything interesting down there?" and Dwalin's head whipped around to stare at Bofur with an unvoiced warning.

Bofur caught the look and shrugged, "Not really.  Though there are a hell of a lot more goblins under these streets than we anticipated."

Fili opened his mouth and then closed it again, turning and sliding into the kitchen, still almost automatic. Bofur hesitated and then followed Fili, "Are you sleeping with Ori again tonight?"

"No, I mean," Fili paused. "Sorta? He moved me into the room next to his and has insisted that the books in there can be moved out during the next few days and also that he foresees it being permanent."

Bofur scratched the side of his neck and nodded, "That, good."

“I should have moved out of that room when Kili first,” Fili started and stopped, shaking his head. He found himself making tea before he realized it. "Well... I suppose you fought goblins and survived so you must have earned tea for that."

That earned an actual grin, "Tea sounds great.  So you and Ori got everything moved out there then?"

"Yeah," Fili said. "And by we I mean he directed and I moved all my own stuff."

"Sounds like Ori.  I'm glad, I'm glad you've got a place to stay."

"Did you?" Fili asked after a beat. "Sleep at all?"

Bofur shrugged a bit, "Yeah.  I got some sleep."

"On the couch?" Fili found himself asking.

There was a long pause before Bofur nodded very slightly, "Yeah."

Fili let out a long breath, and he stared at Bofur like it might be easier to give in again. "I'm still not really looking forward to trying and sleep," he muttered instead, fussing with the tea kettle.

Bofur revised his first response to that, "Did you manage to sleep last night?"

"Yeah but," Fili shrugged. "There was still Ori. Platonic or no, it’s easier to hold someone."

"Is that an option again if needed?" Bofur asked after a moment.

"Don't know," Fili said after a beat. "Ori often makes judgments on what he thinks people need, you know?”

Bofur grimaced very slightly at that, "Yeah, I know."

"So I'm not sure," Fili shrugged. "It will... it will work out. I think I need to learn how to be on my own again anyway."

"I think, I think that would be good.  I'm glad you've got somewhere."

"Yeah I..." Fili sighed, handing him the cup of tea. "I am too. Thanks."

Bofur cradled the hot cup, offering Fili a faint smile, "Thank you."

"Yeah," Fili smiled, shaking his head slightly. "Good night, Bofur." His fingers itched and he wanted to reach out and touch, kiss Bofur’s prickly beard and hold onto him like a life line. His skin felt cold and he wanted someone to warm it up.

"Good night, Fili," Bofur lifted the cup slightly before slipping out of the kitchen with his tea.

Fili watched him go before kicking the oven, not out of real anger for it, but out of frustration before he walked across the yard today the old gardener's cottage.

-0-

Ori followed Dwalin into his bedroom. “What happened?” he asked, without even a cup of tea to back himself up with. Part of him wondered if he should have asked his brother instead, or followed Fili into the kitchen as moral support to him to stick to his break up. But there was something dark in Dwalin’s gaze and tense in his shoulders.

“We fought, we escaped,” Dwalin said. “It was a wild goose chase from the start.”

“What else happened?” Ori asked and Dwalin frowned at him, where he was standing firm in front of the door.

For a moment Dwalin looked like he was fighting with what he was going to say. “What makes you think anything happened?”

“It’s obvious enough,” Ori said. “If you know what to look for. Thorin didn’t come home, and even Fili’s noticed something, though he’ll do shit all about it.”

“Thorin simply went home with Bilbo,” Dwalin said and the corner of Ori’s mouth twitched.

“Yes, but even him getting in touch with his romantic side wouldn’t send him away from home on a night like tonight,” Ori said. “That’s not Thorin. So just tell me what happened.”

Dwalin sat down heavily on his bed, his room sparse. “You might not want to hear this,” he said. “Or it might be better coming from your brother.”

“For the love of god,” Ori snapped and Dwalin arched his brows slightly, snapping out of his dark mood to be amused for a moment.

“You used to be more shy,” he said.

“Yes, well, I’m learning magic from vampires and the world is ending, my patience with myself has gotten a  lot less,” Ori said and Dwalin frowned again, but he filed that comment away for another time.

Taking a deep breath, he gathered his words for a long moment before meeting Ori’s eyes. “The goblin down there had some things to say, when, he, it,” Dwalin frowned. “Whatever it was wasn’t talking about torturing us. According to it, we aren’t as human as we’d like to think.”

Ori stared at him. “What?” he asked, the bottom of his stomach dropping out and he wobbled. Dwalin rose, catching him and dragging him back to sit on the edge of his bed with him. “What do you mean? What did it mean? How could…”

“Durin wasn’t human,” Dwalin said. “Don’t know what he was, because apparently our family decided to forget it entirely at some point. Your brother, I think, will look more into it. Hell, we could probably ask the vampires but…”

Ori’s mouth worked like a fish out of water. “We’re hunters,” he said, finally. “And we’re creatures outside of humanity too. It,” and he laughed, almost a hysteric giggle. “It makes sense, doesn’t it? This world just isn’t for humans, is it?”

“No,” Dwalin agreed slowly.

“We…” Ori took a breath and tried to suppress his next breathless sound. “We’re good at what we do. Of course it’s something in our blood, how could it not be?”

“Ori,” Dwalin said slowly and Ori suddenly stilled, turning to face Dwalin completely.

“You cannot tell Fili,” he said, meeting Dwalin’s eyes. “I’m not sure about telling anyone else, but you cannot tell Fili. No one can tell him.”

“This,” Dwalin started and Ori grabbed his hand and squeezed, not strong enough to make it hurt but still holding Dwalin’s eyes.

“You _cannot_ tell Fili. He’s suicidal enough.”

Dwalin swallowed and finally looked away. “I’ll tell the others,” he said. “I’m not sure if Gloin would tell his son or not.”

“Gimli can handle something like that,” Ori said. “It’d, it’d throw him like all of us but, Thorin, his line, they’re different. It would break Fili. And he’s too close to that edge.” Ori buried his face in his hands. “I understand why Thorin wanted to stay away tonight.”

Dwalin looked away, but he put an arm around Ori’s shoulders. “Yes,” he agreed softly and they lapsed into silence.

-0-

Glorfindel entered the library quietly, closing the door behind himself and slipping over to rest his chin on Erestor's shoulder, arms wrapping around his waist and looking at the map the other vampire was examining, "Have you slept or even eaten since the meeting?"

"I don't need to eat," Erestor said and paused. "Often, anyway." He leaned back slightly, but didn't take his hands back from where one was holding a book open, the other using a pen to mark a map of the city.

"And you don't need to sleep often either, but you do need to do both sometimes," Glorfindel murmured.

"I'm fine," Erestor said. "I can sleep when the world isn't ending." He shifted forward, not breaking Glorfindel's embrace around his waist but dropping his chin off his shoulder. Marking a broad sweep of the map with his marker, he leaned back again, shifting his shoulders slightly against Glorfindel's chest.

Glorfindel sighed, "Erestor, love, if you go with that thought you might not sleep again.  You've said yourself that the portals will open faster and though I fully expect us to stop the world from ending, I'm not willing to bet your health on it.  You need to rest at least."

"Don't have the time," Erestor muttered. "And before you ask, no I'm not delegating."

"I would never ask you to delegate.  I will however insist that you rest.  You will be no use at all in plotting out the portals if you drop from exhaustion," Glorfindel murmured, sliding his hands from Erestor's waist to his shoulders.

"I need to know where this portal opens," Erestor said. "Then I can rest."

"And when do you expect to know where it will open?"

"Before it does," Erestor said after a beat. "I think," he sighed, staring at the map again. "I'm close but..."

Glorfindel looked over the map and the patterns marked thereupon, pointing at a couple of the notes, "These are outliers, aren't they?  The omens shown by these are minor for where they would fall in the pattern for this portal."

"I suspect so," Erestor said. "But if they're not it shifts over here," he pointed. "And if they are it's five miles east."

"Let's assume for the moment that they are.  It would open--" he paused considering the map that Erestor had plotted out, "somewhere in several square blocks, and the same for the other option."  Glorfindel grimaced, "What if you take a short break and come back after you've given your mind a short break?"

"You just want me to take a break," Erestor muttered.

"I want you to take a break," Glorfindel agreed.  "If possible it would be nice to happen when I'm not keeping Thranduil's childer from murdering each other.  They were in opposite ends of the mansion last I saw."  He nuzzled against Erestor's cheek, "But I could probably lock them in separate rooms later if you absolutely cannot get away now."

Erestor paused. "I thought you did not want your own children."

"I don't.  I never have," Glorfindel asserted almost absently.

"And how many have you adopted in the past few months?" Erestor asked. "Since you came back?"

"Two," Gorfindel groaned, burying his head against the back of Erestor's shoulder.  "Because their sire is doing nothing for them at this point and it's doing more harm than good with the world about to end.  One of them is dating a hunter and the other is stalking one."

"Just the two?" Erestor asked, shifting back more into the embrace.

"Unless I've been interfering with Elrond's I can't think of any others."

 “And Hunters?" Erestor prompted.

Glorfindel pulled back, leaning around so he could actually look in Erestor's eyes to figure out if he was joking, "I haven't adopted any hunters."

Erestor just arched his brow at him. "Haven't you? I know the twins have but your reaction, while less clingy, has not been much different. And careful, or you're like to make me jealous."

Blinking twice, Glorfindel's eyebrows rose, "You mean Ori?  I don't know that I would call that adopting."  He brushed a lock of Erestor's hair back from his forehead, "And no need for jealousy, love."

Erestor hummed, something dark in his eyes. "Then if it's not adopting, what is it?"

"Alright, perhaps it is adopting," Glorfindel admitted, studying Erestor's expression carefully.

Erestor hummed again, turning his attention back to the map. "Erestor?" Glorfindel slid around behind Erestor again, running his hands along his shoulders.

"What?" he asked, shifting around in the embrace enough to stay there while still doing his work.

"Why the sudden focus on my adoptions, or semi adoptions?"  He paused very slightly, "Or more specifically on Ori?"

"You seemed quite angry at me," Erestor said. "When you thought I threatened him."

"I--" Glorfindel bit back his instinctive denial, considering for a long moment. "I knew you hadn't threatened him."

"Really?" Erestor asked, tone idle.

"Yes," Glorfindel answered. "It was," he stopped, making a frustrated sound as he tried to articulate it, "it was the thought of that possibly having happened.  You're right, I've adopted him."

"Indeed," Erestor said, leaning back over the map enough that he broke Glorfindel’s embrace.

Glorfindel pulled his hands back and stared at Erestor's back for a long moment before speaking again, "What's actually bothering you?"

"I am not," Erestor started and shook his head. "I suppose I find it interesting is all. And dangerous."

"Interesting.  Dangerous." Glorfindel repeated, his tone flat, "Erestor, please talk to me."

"Being interested in a hunter?" Erestor said. "At a time like this, yes, is dangerous. It's one thing to adopt other vampire's childe and another to adopt someone human."

"And the 'interesting' part?"

"That he's the one to interest you."

Glorfindel resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall, "Does it make it any better that I may be adopting Kili's brother by default?"

"No," Erestor said and paused. "Are you?"

"I think I might not have much choice after adopting Kili.  All of his self-destructive tendencies cycle around his brother and his brother's own self-destructive patterns," Glorfindel said, grimacing.

"What a charming family," Erestor muttered, moving several books to find another one.

"Erestor..."  Glorfindel sighed, "Please come away from the map and the books.  Just for a short time."

"I need to..." Erestor started and shook his head at himself.

"You need to rest."

"You're very insistent tonight," Erestor muttered, only half annoyed.

"I'm not going to deny that.  Please, Erestor," Glorfindel said, hesitating briefly before reaching out to touch the other's shoulders again.

Erestor deflated slightly, arching his back. "Fine," he grumbled, not as angry as he could be.

"Thank you," the other vampire murmured, drawing back but not letting go of Erestor's shoulder.

"So when this is over," Erestor said, as he marked his place in the books and stepped back. "You have no intention of turning that human boy?"

“None at all," Glorfindel promised.

"It seems," Erestor said, pausing at the door. "You have a type, is all."

Glorfindel stopped at that, pulling Erestor around so he was fully facing the other vampire, "Erestor, you're dancing around what's bothering you here."

"Yes," he agreed. "I have no... I don't want to talk about it. I never have. And I'm not intending to start now I simply," he let out a huff of air that wasn't quite a breath. "You've been gone a very long time. I'm still unsure about a lot."

Reaching up to cup Erestor's cheek, Glorfindel leaned in to rest their foreheads together as well, "Please, don't doubt this.  Or, or try not to.  I have been gone a _very_ long time, but this is never something I would regret."

"Regret and moving on are different things," Erestor said. "But I will keep that in mind."

"It's not going to happen."  He paused briefly, "Not on my part."

Erestor nodded, still looking unsure, though on anyone else it would still look simply like annoyance. "It doesn't really matter," he said. "There are other things to concern myself with."

"The world's not always going to be ending," Glorfindel pointed out, drawing back and reaching past Erestor to open the door.

"No," Erestor agreed. "But," he shook his head. "I would perhaps not be so foolish at another time." And he was unlikely to ever meet Ori for the first time again either.

"'Foolish' has never been a word I would use to describe you," Glorfindel said, his hand moving to rest at Erestor's waist.

"You may be behind the times then," Erestor said, leaning into him as they walked.

"A couple of centuries or so," he agreed with a hint of a smile.  "But I still doubt I could honestly apply that word to you."

Erestor hummed. "I feel like I have become very foolish," he said and looked at Glorfindel. "I became attached to you."

"Is that so foolish?" Glorfindel asked, returning the glance with slightly raised eyebrows.

"Yes," Erestor said, but stopped and turned, sliding a hand behind Glorfindel's neck. "It is foolish. But I like it anyway."

Glorfindel let both of his hands rest on Erestor's waist and he smiled faintly, "Well, I'm glad of that at least."

Erestor hummed, leaning up to kiss him, still soft and gentle considering they were in the hallway. Keeping the kiss gentle, Glorfindel tilted his head to change the angle ever so slightly and his fingers tightened against Erestor's sides.

"I shall simply have to find a way to endure my own folly," Erestor said, not quite with a smile.

"Well, so long as you think you can _endure_ it," Glorfindel drawled, his lips curving upward

"I believe I have found strategies for coping," Erestor said, but his grip tightened, like he was worried Glorfindel might disappear again.

"Well, I shall have to stay around and learn what those are, then, shan't I?" Glorfindel murmured.

Erestor tilted his head, still not quite smiling but looking amused. "I know the point was to make me, well, rest," he said. "But I fully expect you to do something else for me, first."

Glorfindel chuckled, the sound low in the back of his throat, "Well, of course.  Who am I to say no?"

"Good," Erestor said, finally letting him go and resuming their path down the hallway.

-0-

Thorin paused in front of the doorway to the library, surprised to see Fili reading a book. Slowly, he edged inside, having been more or less avoiding both his nephew and his sister since returning from the night he spent at Bilbo’s. Sometimes, when he thought about kissing Bilbo and touching him he got a small shiver down his spine, a pleasure he had not allowed himself in years.

But that was also twined around the fear of the tunnels and the revelation of the goblin and his confrontation with Kili. None of which he wanted to talk to Fili about.

 Entering the library, Fili’s eyes flickered up to watch him as he looked for the books on the fae that he remembered they had, though he had never had a reason to read them. “Uncle,” Fili greeted, surprise in his tone and Thorin turned from where he was reaching up already for a book.

“Fili,” he replied and Fili looked back to what he was reading. For a while they went about their tasks in silence, Fili focused on his book and Thorin focused on gathering his. Usually he would ask Dori after his books, but he felt too raw about the revelation still to bring Dori in on it.

Before Thorin left he paused. “Fili,” he said finally, awkward and Fili’s head snapped up. “I’ve noticed… you and Bofur have been different.”

“We broke up,” Fili said, tone flat and Thorin blinked at him in surprise.

“You… why?”

For a long moment Fili stared at him. “Because it wasn’t good for either of us,” he said finally and Thorin came and sat down across from him, making Fili frown. “We were just using each other.”

“I thought it was good for you,” Thorin said and Fili’s frown only deepened.

“Good for me?” he repeated. “Why, because it meant I wasn’t obsessing over Kili?” and Thorin flinched. “Yeah. Well. That wasn’t really working and it’s a shit reason to be in a relationship anyway. We were just using each other, and he wasn’t actually,” Fili took a breath. “He says words because he wants to believe them not because he does and that’s exactly how it was when he said he loved me so no, it wasn’t good for me, and it probably wasn’t good for him either.”

He stared at Thorin, like he was challenging him to disagree and Thorin decided not to, only nodding. “Alright,” he said quietly. He paused, a dark thought occurring to him. “But, he never hurt you, or anything like that?”

“Now you ask?” Fili shook his head slightly. “No. I mean, not in the way you’re thinking. It was me, actually, who ended it.”

“Ah,” Thorin said and he placed the books on the fae awkwardly on the table. Fili obviously noted the title but Thorin did not ask after which book he was reading either. “I’m worried about you,” Thorin admitted finally.

“Oh, you can say those words without throwing me into a wall,” Fili said and Thorin flinched slightly.

“Don’t,” he rumbled and Fili looked away. “But,” he tried to swallow down his anger. “That doesn’t change the fact that I am worried about you. I’m worried because I thought, well, I thought Bofur would give you something to fight for.”

“What?” Fili asked, stilling with his spine ram rod straight.

“We all need something to fight for,” Thorin replied. “Or we lose ourselves. We need something to hold on, to be strong for, to come home for. Without that,” and he trailed off, thinking of his grandfather before shaking his head. “We lose ourselves to the darkness.”

Fili stared at him in stony silence.

“Before you had your brother,” Thorin continued, more words than he usually gave Fili anymore. Gloin has Gimli. Dori has his brother, everyone has someone to fight for and I’m worried you don’t anymore.”

“I’m fine,” Fili said, tone chilly.

Thorin frowned. “What do you have to fight for.”

“What do you?” Fili shot back.

Thorin met his eyes, and said very seriously, “You.”

For so long Fili was silent that Thorin thought the words had gotten through, that Fili understood how much his birth and his brother had changed Thorin’s life, how much his nephews had always mattered to him. Instead Fili suddenly stood up, knocking the chair over backward.

“Fuck you,” he snarled. “Fuck you you don’t get to say that. You don’t,” and his hand was shaking, Thorin’s eyes widening. “You don’t get to make me into a weapon since I was born, you don’t get to tell me to kill my own brother you don’t get to do anything like this and then tell me I’m your reason to keep going! You don’t have the _right_ to make me that,” and he slammed out of the library before Thorin could react again.

For a stunned moment Thorin stared at where he had before he buried his head in his hands.


	23. Of Things We're Not Talking About in Front of Whoever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's now a second FST because as soon as I published the first one they picked up a huge slew of more songs. (Fili, in particular, has latched onto music at an alarming rate) So without more ado, [the second mix.](http://8tracks.com/victoriousscarf/the-curse-is-passing-down-the-bloodline)

"Where are we going?" Ori asked, hands wrapped up in his scarf as he and Fili walked down the street. It was still daylight, but they had broken away from the main pack of hunters that were heading to the portal.

Things had been tense in the mansion. Only that afternoon had they gotten a call from the vampire's, stating the place where the portal was to open.  Since the vampires couldn't be out in daylight, the hunters were going to scope out the sight beforehand.

"I just," Fili started, kicking a rock out of the way. It was odd to be outside and not think Kili was there. "I have one stop, alright?"

"Like, for supplies?" Ori asked, and Fili shrugged. When they reached the pathway to Bard's house, Ori stopped in shock. "Not supplies then?" he asked, jogging to catch up to Fili before he reached the door.

There was a moment of near silence on the other side of the door after FIli knocked immediately followed by the sound of small feet running and the steadier tread of an adult.  The door opened, Bard bent over slightly to hold Tilda's shoulder, "Hello again."  His attention shifted off of Fili onto his daughter, Bain and Sigrid several paces behind him in the entry, "Tilda, what's the rule about the door?"

Tilda pouted, not even bothering to answer him before she failed her hands at Fili. "But he came back."

Ori's jaw dropped, eyes darting between Fili and the children in the doorway with their father. "You know, this is weirder then the shit I pull," he said and seeming to suddenly remember the age of the children in front of them slapped a hand over his mouth, looking like he wanted to swear again.

Bard shot Ori a vaguely amused arched eyebrow even as he swept Tilda up and continued to speak to her, "Yes, and he's still a stranger and the rules apply."

"How long until not a stranger?" Tilda pouted, looking like she wanted to launch herself at Fili again.

"Probably more than five minutes," Fili said, wry. "I need to talk to you," he said, meeting Bard's eyes before remembering that most people found that too forward. He didn't drop his gaze though.

Bard offered him a glimmer of a smile at the comment for Tilda before the expression disappeared and he glanced over his shoulder at Sigrid and Bain.  He set Tilda down and pushed her toward her siblings, Sigrid grabbing her hand.  Bard stepped onto the porch, closing the door behind him and looking at Fili, "Something's getting worse tonight isn't it?"

"Another portal to hell is supposed to open," Fili said and Ori gave him another shocked look. "Like at the mall. Since you... were... um, investigating that, I thought maybe you should know. At the least for some understanding when another huge hole opens up, but more so to.. .stay away from there."

Bard paused, but nodded, "Where's it happening?"

"A park," he said. "The, uh, big one in the south."

"Boulevard," Ori said. "Boulevard park."

"Right," Fili said and shrugged, never being one for knowing the names as long as he could find the place. "If it does open there, it's not going to be safe tonight. Or in the next few days. We should be able to close it but," and he shrugged again. "Just... barricade the door and don't go out tonight, alright?"

Bard nodded, "Alright.  Thank you for letting me know."  His gaze darted toward Ori and then back to Fili, but he decided it was better not to ask at the moment.

Ori looked between Bard and Fili again. "Why is it I'm always dragged along on these sorts of affairs anyway? Between you and Gimli I'm starting to be worried for my reputation."

"Aff--" Fili started and froze, staring at Ori.

Bard's eyebrows rose at that, looking at Ori and blinking, "What are you--?"  He cut himself off and bit back any abrupt protestations, knowing how that would sound even as he shook his head.

"You know, clandestine meetings," Ori said, flippantly, because he was still thrown by this entire side trip, and Fili kept staring at him.

"Ori," he said, voice low and dangerous. "You do remember the last, really awful relationship I was in that literally just ended, right? You're not honestly making that statement, are you?"

Ori paused a beat. "Shit," he said emphatically. "You know, I'm going to go stand over there," and pointed to the sidewalk at the end of the pathway before he turned and walked away from Bard’s house.

Bard watched him go, catching the name and realizing the connection in relation to the most recent death, but not saying a word on that subject, "Long time friend?"

"Cousin," Fili said. "We grew up together in the same house. His brother," and he waved a hand, awkward. "He's the one who just died. Can't remember if that one was your case or not. If it was, your luck is almost as bad as ours, to be assigned all our weird ass cases."

Nodding ever so slightly, Bard spoke, "It wasn't really a case, persay, but it came up in conjunction with your brother's missing persons.  Your family's efficient with the death reports, never anything that would actually cause us to look too closely at one of them."

“Practice," Fili said, and he rubbing at the fading bruises on his neck. "It was a demon, by the way. It's not like the police could do much with that report, especially with the bastard who did it already beheaded."

 Bard nodded, his arms crossed against the late autumn chill, "How many more portals are expected to open?"

"Three?" Fili offered. "Bigger each time."

"Damn," he murmured.  "But you know how to close them as they open?"

Fili nodded. "I'm not sure that's going to stop the next one from opening though," he admitted. "That sort of stuff isn't my strong suit."

"I hope you'll be as careful as you can."  His gaze darted briefly toward where Ori stood and back to Fili, "All of you."

"Thanks," Fili said. "But I'm serious about being careful tonight. We're trying but demons..." and he shrugged. "Well. Anyway. I just... wanted to let you know."

At that moment Tilda seemed to escape and come running back to the door. "Still here!"

"I," Fili started, taking a step back. "Really need to be going, actually.

Bard swept Tilda up before she could actually latch onto Fili, "Tilda, you know better than that."  He looked back to Fili, shifting Tilda onto his hip, "Take care of yourself."

"Yeah," Fili said quietly. "You too."

Bard's gaze darted toward where the sun was setting, "When's it due to open?  You said tonight."

"In a few hours," Fili said. "The others are already mostly there, and, well, the vampires will be heading there."

"Alright.  We should, we should let you get going."  He shifted Tilda again to offer Fili his right hand, "Thank you for letting me know."

Fili blinked before he nodded, accepting the hand gingerly. "Is he still working?" Tilda asked, because he wore his sword like he had the first night.

"Yes, dear," Bard answered, drawing his hand back again and turning his attention to Tilda.  "And we need to let him get back to that."

"He doesn't much look like he belongs in the same movie," Bain said behind his father and pointing to Ori, who was kicking rocks off the sidewalk.

"He's the director, he can wear what he wants," Fili said and took a step back, wanting to rub his hand on his jeans and not letting himself.

Sigrid tilted her head to one side, looking up at Fili from where she stood in the doorway by Bain, "You seem like you work a lot."

"That's what happens with movies," Bard said.  "Come on, back inside all three of you."

"Good night," Fili said, because he couldn't think of what else to say with the children staring at them.

Bard nodded to him, offering him a flickering smile, "Good night."  He hesitated for the briefest of moments before ushering the kids back inside and closing the door.

Fili stared at the closed door for a moment before turning and rejoining Ori. "So," Ori said. "I opened my mouth and stupid stuff came out, but what was that really about?"

"He has kids," Fili said. "I," he trailed off, shaking his head.

"Oh," Ori said and fell silent.

-0-

Bard got his children settled down with a movie and went to place a call.  He leaned against the wall next to the phone, rubbing his eyes until the other line was picked up and Beorn's familiar voice greeted him.  "Hey, it's me.  I got a tip from an anonymous source.  Boulevard Park needs to be closed off tonight."

"Closed off?" Beorn said. "How closed off? Why closed off?"

"Closed off as in cordoned off to keep people out.  Maybe a block radius to be safe, but just the park if we can't manage that," Bard said, still trying to find a viable excuse for why exactly.

"You k now the higher ups like reasons," Beorn said.

Bard narrowly avoided asking if the higher ups really needed to know, "Because it sounds like it might be similar to the mall."

Beorn stopped, sitting up straighter and held the phone to his ear instead of leaving it jammed between his ear and shoulder. "Who gave you this tip?"

"You know better than to ask that about anonymous tips," Bard said.

"Bard, as far as the mayor is concerned the mall was terrorism. If that's happening again we won't get away with just a cordon but a full blown SWAT invasion of the park. Speaking of which, why aren't we doing that?"

Bard rubbed his eyes, biting back a groan, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"You'd be surprised," Beorn said, lowly.

"The next words out of my mouth are going to sound insane, but I swear I'm not actually going mad," Bard said, looking toward the family room and making sure none of the kids had come out of it.  "The mall was the opening of a portal to hell.  There's supposed to be another one opening at the park tonight."

Beorn stopped and there was a long moment of silence on the other end of the line. "We can't get the force in on this," he said.

"Wh--" Bard cut his response off as Beorn's words actually sank in, "You actually believe me?"

"Let's just say it's not totally unbelievable," Beorn said after a beat.

"So are you going to help me find a way to keep civilians away from the park tonight?"

"Fuck," Beorn said under his breath. "If we tell the others, they're going to want to know what's going on, and they're going to want to stop it, so... yes."

"Good. I'll meet you at the north entrance.  How soon can you get there?"

"I'll make some excuse," Beorn muttered. "And buy some really big flashlights on the way."

"Thank you.  I'll see you soon."  He hung up, quickly calling a babysitter, managing to get the one from down the street who was over in short order.  Kissing the kids good-night and letting the sitter know he'd be back as soon as he could but he'd been called out unexpectedly, he left, heading quickly for the park.

Once he was there, Beorn appeared, still in his uniform and dropped a hat on Bard's head before handing him a massive light. "Shine this on people and scare them away," he said. "Say something's going on and we're looking into it. But now you have to tell me what sort of a tip you got on _demons_."

"I will.  Later," Bard promised as he proceeded to follow Beorn's other instructions.

"Bastard," Beorn said, tone fond. "Try not to die, alright? I don't want to deal with your kids when I'm forced to adopt them.”

That earned a brief smile, "Only if you promise the same.  The absolute last thing I want to have to do is explain to them why you're not coming over again."

"Different level of problem," Beorn protested. "But I tend not to do stupid things, outside of your direct influence."

"Whereas I might sometimes, um, not explicitly ignore your advice but set it aside when the opportunity happens across my path," Bard said, offering Beorn a vaguely sheepish glance.

"The Durins," Beorn said, not even a question.

"I encountered Fili Durin on my way home the other night," Bard admitted.

"Fili Durin?" Beorn asked, obviously surprised."And he's the one who told you about this?"

"Yes," Bard nodded ever so slightly.

Beorn leaned back slightly, clearly not having expected that. "Alright," he said finally. "Do we have time to do a sweep of the park?"

"He said it was due in a few hours and that was shortly before sunset," Bard said, considering for a moment, "We might have time, but I also don't want to risk clearing out the people who know what they're doing in there."

"I think they would stay if we politely told them to leave," Bard said. "Besides, once you've seen a Durin, it's not to hard to recognize the rest."

"It's not," he cleared his throat and decided he might as well explain this bit too, "can you recognize a vampire on sight?"

Beorn blinked. "The... what?"

"They're working with the Durins right now," Bard said, shaking his head.  "Come on, if we're going to clear the park of everyone else we need to do it now."

"But," Beorn said, still floored. "The Durin's are _vampire hunters_."

Bard came to a full stop about six feet away and turned slowly to face his partner, "And i did you know that?"

Beorn shrugged. "They're the Durins. They have been for centuries."

"Beorn.  The fact that vampires even exist outside of stories is not common knowledge, much less the existence of an entire line of vampire hunters," Bard said, looking skeptical.

Beorn held his flashlight out, shrugging again. "Our families have a history. We should have gotten signs to put up around the park. Though we'd probably be cited by our own people for vandalism."

"Your families have a history," Bard shook his head, shining his flashlight around as they entered the park.

"It's a very long history," Beorn said. “They’ve been around a while.”

"I think we should talk after we finish up here," Bard said, eying his partner for a moment before turning back to the path they were on.

"I think we're perfectly fine not talking about it," Beorn replied. "Are we splitting up then?"

Bard hesitated, but nodded, "We'll cover more ground that way."

"But it's more dangerous," Beorn sighed. "I told you to avoid the Durins."

"It's hard to avoid them when you literally run into one on the street," Bard protested.  "If we're sticking together we need to move quickly, then.  They only knew it was happening in the park, not exactly where and considering the size of the hole in the mall I'd rather not be here when it opens."

"Just think about your children," Beorn reminded.

"Fifteen minutes and then we leave, even if we haven't covered the whole of the park," Bard said.

"Good," Beorn decided that answer was acceptable, sweeping his light over the park.

-0-

The vampires arrived as a group at the center of the park, where there was an old statue. "Are you prepared?" Thorin asked, arms crossed and waiting there.

"It should be another hour yet," Galadriel said. "But yes, we are prepared."

Kili almost instantly peeled away, heading for Fili, who stood with Ori waiting. Some of the other hunters had taken up various positions around the center of the park, patrolling to shoo other humans away and to take out any demons that might have slipped past the others when the time came.

Glorfindel followed Kili with his eyes, avoiding frowning; the dependency between the brothers was alarming, but there were far more immediate concerns.

Celeborn let his gaze sweep around the assembled hunters, determining swiftly that a question of whether they were prepared was likely to go down poorly, "All we can do now is wait.  At least we have arrived ahead of it this time."

Thorin nodded, as Galadriel pulled Ori to one side, talking quietly to him about the portal.

Dori watched the ancient vampire with his brother carefully, fighting against the urge to go over and yank Ori away--knowing that whatever was being said was important.  He dragged his attention away, turning it to checking over the weapons he carried instead.

Kili and Fili wandered off slightly, looking like they were checking the perimeter one more time. "You didn't go," Kili asked, softly. "With Thorin, underground?"

"No," Fili said, shaking his head and resting a hand on his sword.

"Oh, good," Kili said and Fili frowned at him. "And he didn't... after he came back... seem weird? Or talk to you?"

"Talk to me?" Fili asked, frown only deepening. "About what? He spent the night with Bilbo."

"Oh, good," Kili said, sounding distracted and Fili looked like he might shake him.

"What are you going on about?"

"Nothing," Kili said, a little too quickly and stopped, choosing a random piece of ground to wait on, Fili falling in beside him.

Glorfindel watched them go, twitching to pursue them, but staying where he was near Erestor even as he watched Elrohir touch Elladan's shoulder and then slip off in the direction Fili and Kili had gone.  Waiting had never been something Glorfindel cared for, and now it strung him far too tight, especially with as many people around as there were at the moment.

Considering the group in front of him, Erestor shook his head before starting to pace around the clearing in the middle of the park, considering every once and a while the notebook he held. Tapping his fingers against the hilt of his sword, Glorfindel hesitated for the briefest of moments before trailing after Erestor, his eyes never stilling as he watched the hunters and the other vampires.

Dori glanced toward Erestor and Glorfindel, shifting to keep them in sight instinctively and feeling an itch settling between his shoulders at the number of vampires and the difficulty in not turning his back to them.

Dwalin gave up on silence a few moments later, unable to bear watching Fili and Kili lean toward each other, or the way Thorins' shoulders were stiff as he tried not to look either at Thranduil or his nephew "So what I don't understand," he said. "Is why exactly vampires are even fighting to save the world."

Freezing, Erestor turned to look at him, motions too smooth to be quite human. A pace behind Erestor, Glorfindel fell still before his hand clenched and he forced his mind to slow down as he turned as well, "Why would we not?"

"Well," Dwalin said. "Most demons seem quite happy to have hell open in their backyard. They even cause it. So what's so different about vampires? Why don't you?"

"Are you stupid?" Erestor asked. "Demons don't particularly consider us natural allies either. We are bastards, half breeds at best to them. Even if we were to open hell itself, they would not welcome or celebrate us. We would be sport for the greater demons. Besides," and his smile was cold. "What would we do without our food source if all the humans were gone?"

"Erestor," Celeborn's tone was warning.

"No, sir, he's got a point," Glorfindel countered, narrowly keeping the growl out of his voice.

Narrowing his eyes, Dwalin took a step forward. "I don't trust you."

"You certainly don't have to," Erestor snapped. "All we have to trust about each other is that you can use that axe without cutting off your own foot and I have no interest in eating you."

"The only thing that matters is that we're willing to keep this world in existence.  All of us.  The why of it is secondary at best," Glorfindel said, his voice almost wavering with the effort to keep it neutral.

Erestor gave Dwalin another disgusted look before going back to pacing back and forth. Soon he was walking around in a circle, scuffing the grass with his shoe to mark it once he had passed.

"I do not recall seeing you before," Thorin said, ignoring Thranduil still to focus on Tauriel. He felt restless and irritated at ignoring Kili and Thranduil and waiting for battle.

She almost mentioned the other night and decided against it. "Just got here," she said instead, and Kili looked away from Fili long enough to look at her and Thorin in alarm before returning to Fili, whose arms were crossed over his chest and he wasn't speaking.

"And why would that be?" Thorin asked, Thranduil moving away to stand on the perimeter, looking out at the night instead of where the others were clustered and waiting.

"Does that matter?" Legolas asked from where he'd been shadowing Tauriel ever since he'd noticed GImli's absence--namely from the moment they arrived.

"I thought you were the one so interested in our Gimli," Thorin said and Tauriel looked like she wanted to roll her eyes. "Already so willing to move on to another vampire?"

"Oh, please," Tauriel said, actually laughing. "We're siblings, not lovers. All vampires turned by the same vampire are considered more or less siblings to us." Kili's head whipped around but she was already continuing. "Kili's part of our’s too."

Legolas' eyes widened at that and he elbowed her sharply, if a moment too late, hissing under his breath, "Tauriel, _what_ are you doing?"

"What?" she asked, looking back at Legolas in confusion. "It's true, whatever they as hunters want to think." She finally noticed the way the Fili had frozen, rage and hurt in every line of his body and Kili looking frantic beside him.

Legolas' blue eyes flicked toward Fili and then toward Thorin and finally toward the sire he shared with Tauriel, "It's not...It's not that simple in this situation,” he said lowly, voice weak because the damage was already done.

Thranduil had tensed but otherwise had not moved or turned and Thorin looked more than ready to kill the first thing that approached. "Why?" Tauriel asked. "Because he's still attached to his mortal brother?"

"Be quiet," Galadriel said, breezing through the tension, Ori behind her and his hands twisted up in his scarf that he had pushed all the way up to his chin. "Does everyone know where to be?"

She received affirmative answers as the hunters and vampires moved to cover the clearing, the tension following them around but not stopping their effectiveness.

Elladan twined a hand through Elrohir's, watching the way Fili stood like he had been wounded. "We forgot to tell her to never say that where he could hear, didn't we?" he murmured. "We're getting sloppy."

Elrohir nodded ever so slightly, his gaze focused far more on Kili than Fili in that moment and the frantic need to erase the last handful of minutes he could see in the younger vampire, "We really need a list or something of things we're not talking about in front of whoever."

"We can hand it out," Elladan said. "Personalized to each recipient." He squeezed Elrohir's hand. "At least we aren't on demon killing to close the portal duty."

"Thank whatever stars might be looking over us," Elrohir murmured, gripping Elladan's hand in response.  "We've only to deal with any that get past during those moments."

"Sounds easy, after the last few nights," Elladan said, trying to make light of it.

Elrohir smiled sharply at that, "Almost at least." Elladan curled around Elrohir, nuzzling his cheek for a moment and not caring who saw before pulling back and straightening out.

"How much longer do we wait?" Thorin asked.

"As long as it takes for them to open it, I suspect," Galadriel answered smoothly and Thorin lapsed into angry silence, because it was better than watching the way Fiili and Kili were standing in perfect sync with each other and yet not meeting each other's eyes.

Glorfindel kept silent at Erestor's side though he turned his head at a rustle of leaves some distance off.  He couldn't get a clear scent, but it seemed neither human nor demon so he let it be for the moment.

Galadriel took another look around the clearing, focusing on Celeborn with a faint smile before turning back to where Erestor stood, clearly prepared for something to happen.

"It should," he started, and the earth around him started to glow. Taking several quick steps back, he dragged Glorfindel with him as everyone else fell back in a circle around the glowing ground.

Glorfindel drew his sword, seeing others do the same from the corner of his eye, as the ground spilt starting at the center of the glowing area and spreading quickly outward.

"Would you like to do the honors?" Erestor asked, looking at Glorfindel rather than the opening portal as Galadriel raised her arms, already starting the complex motions to weave the spell out of air.

Fingers tightening instinctively on the hilt of his sword, Glorfindel drew an unneeded breath as he nodded and nearly recoiled at the hint of brimstone that came from beyond the still opening portal. Erestor gripped his shoulder before taking up a fighting position beside him.

The portal was finally open enough that a handful of demons were able to claw their way out only to meet a welcoming committee they had been far from expecting.

Thorin was first on the demons, his sword beheading one neatly as it came running toward him instead of Glorfindel and Erestor on the other side of the circle. The ones behind the first tried to go the other way, running into Kili, who had placed himself in front of Fili at the last second, and Glorfindel.

Lips drawn back in a snarl, Glorfindel moved swiftly, sword lashing out and severing up through the demon's arms and then across through its neck taking its hands and head in one smooth motion, his eyes darting toward the next of the creatures.

Galadriel gestured at Glorfindel to bring one closer, Ori crouched behind her and watching.

Sheathing the sword and drawing a long dagger, moving like every inch of the predator he was, Glorfindel caught the next demon by the back of its neck, the knife digging against its throat as he yanked it away from its path out of the clearing and toward the Lady, killing it in one smooth motion.

Ignoring the blood that splashed on her clothes, Galadriel swept her hands up, the ground shaking and undulating upward before the broken ground abruptly turned cold, earth replacing the portal that had been open. 

Demons however, still streamed around the park, having been massed in front of the portal before it opened so many of them had run through in the short amount of time it had been open.

The instant the portal closed, Glorfindel was whirling away from it in pursuit of the demons that had come through.

"Close the gaps!" Thorin yelled, the second wave of hunters and vampires catching the demons that had thought they had escaped by surprise.

Elrohir found himself back to back with his twin instinctively, speaking over his shoulder, "At least these ones die more easily." Elladan laughed as he slid his sword under the throat of one of the demons.

Across the clearing, Thorin was tripped by a demon, his body having been pushed to the limits over the last weeks and still healing. With a grunt he went down, bringing his weapon back up to stop the downward swing except Thranduil was there, cleaning cutting the demon in question in half and sweeping around in one smooth motion to skewer the next one neatly. Flicking his sword out of the demon, he held out a hand to Thorin, who snarled at him but fell back over when he tried to push himself up.

"Don't be foolish," Thranduil said, sword sweeping out again before he offered his hand a second time.

Still snarling, that time Thorin accepted the hand being offered.

Dori had been trying to keep half an eye on his brother as he fought and whirled at a sound behind him to find Glorfindel had cut a demon through the center which had been sneaking up upon him.  The vampire met Dori's eyes, a slightly wild glint in his own, "Be careful.  Your brother can't afford another loss so soon."  With those words the blond vampire was off again after another of the demons.

"One of them is getting away!" Bombur yelled, too far away to do anything and suddenly another form came crashing through the trees, the form of something huge and full of fur barreling past and pulverizing several demons before disappearing back into the forest.

"What the _fuck_ was that?" Fili managed first.

Elrohir recovered his voice in short order, "Something that appears to hate demons.  Let's claim it's on our side for now and figure it out later."

Fili gave him a horrified look as Erestor neatly beheaded the last demon in the clearing.

Celeborn let his gaze sweep around the clearing as he cleaned the demon blood from his blade and sheathed it.  Taking quick stock of any injuries he arched his eyebrows in some surprise at how little damage any of the hunters or vampires had actually sustained.

"See what you can do with teamwork?" Erestor said, sarcasm evident in his tone, but also a little shock.

"It feels almost--" Legolas started to be quickly cut off by Elrohir.

"You finish that sentence and I will cut out your tongue.  Do not jinx us that soon."

Thorin paused, bracing himself on his sword. "Did no demons escape?"

Glorfindel shook his head very slightly, wiping demon blood from his cheek with the back of his free hand, "I think that creature took care of any we missed."

" _Now_ can I ask what that was?" Fili demanded.

"Well, it wasn't a demon," Elrohir said easily enough.

Legolas paused for a moment at that comment, "It looked like a bear."

"A bear of that size around here?  You're crazy," Elrohir retorted.

There was a rustling and Glorfindel turned in that direction instinctively, his sword coming up again.  Bard stepped out of the shadows, hands raised, "I'm human, lower your sword."  His gaze flickered around the clearing, focusing in on Thorin, Galadriel and Celeborn and striding over toward Thorin, keeping half of his attention on the others around the clearing.  "I'd like a word with you if you don't mind."

"And who the hell are you?" Thorin demanded, looking him up and down. Fili gaped at Bard before moving quickly to stand beside his uncle, Kili on his heels.

"Isn't that your cop?" Kili asked.

"What?" Fili hissed as he came to a stop beside Thorin.

"Bard," the man answered simply.  "I'm wondering if you're thinking this same method will be effective for the next two portals.  Honestly I mean."  His eyes darted toward the vampires and the way that for the most part the hunters and vampires had separated again.

Before Thorin could even open his mouth to demand why Bard was there or where he heard such things, Fili beat him to it. "What are you even doing here? I said lock the doors not come out to the fucking park in the middle of the night!"

"What?" Thorin said, looking this time at Fili not Bard.

"And did you really expect me not to have the park cordoned off after that warning?" Bard responded, his attention shifting entirely to FIli at that.

"But," Fili started and scowled. "Damnit."

"It's not like I could simply call it in," Bard said, gesturing to the remains of the portal.  "The mayor's treating these incidents like acts of terror and all that would have accomplished was more people here rather than less."

"You told a cop about this?" Thorin asked, voice dropping.

"I didn't _tell_ him," Fili said, Kili hovering behind his shoulder still. "He figured it out. He followed us into a fight. I was... uh, distracted at the time and didn't notice him tailing us."

"Our fault," Elladan said cheerfully from where the vampires had mostly gathered.

"It's not as though I'm going to be able to tell anyone," Bard said, his tone shifting toward scathing as he watched Thorin.

"Why," Thorin even started.

"He was investigating the mall," Fili said quickly, rather than allow Bard to say he had been looking for Kili as well.

Thorin scowled at him before turning his attention back to Bard. "And what, exactly, did you want to know?"

"I already asked it.  Do you think you'll actually be able to deal with the next two portals as effectively as this one?" Bard never wavered from where his attention was on Thorin.

"Yes," Thorin ground out.

"Wait, I thought we weren't jinxing ourselves," Elladan said.

"And if you can't?" Bard asked.

"Then the world will supposedly end," Thorin ground out. Galadriel looked briefly at Thorin and Bard before gesturing Ori and Erestor off to one side, talking quietly to them, Erestor nodding every once and a while.

Bard opened his mouth to say something else and Glorfindel cut in from where he'd been watching the exchange and the body language of the participants, "We're working on re-teaching and training for weapons that will be more effective against the demons than what seems to be the vogue these days."

"Yeah, apparently some of us are better at beheading demons then others, who would have guessed?" Elladan added, and Thorin continued glaring at Bard, Fili looking between them uncomfortably.

Bard never took his gaze off of Thorin even as he spoke to Elladan and Glorfindel, "So, training with swords and the like then?  Things that might actually have a chance against the demons should it be necessary?"

"Yes, that's it in a nutshell," Elrohir said where he was carefully removing the last of the demon blood from his blades.

Erestor returned from where he had been talking with Galadriel, as she turned, already floating away through the night and holding her bloodied skirts up as she went. "Enough. I have better things I need to do. Have a good night," he added, clearly an afterthought as he turned and swept back into the night.

Glorfindel's lips quirked at that, "Speak with the hunters, they know as well as we do.  But should they decline your instruction, I'll train you to the blade as needed."  With those words he hurried to follow after Erestor, vanishing into the shadows.

"I don't like him," Dwalin grit out after the vampire.

"I'm pretty sure ‘like’ is not the point," Ori said, glancing at Dwalin before focusing back on Fili watching Bard. He brought his scarf back up, only barely restraining himself from chewing on it.

Bard drew a steadying breath before focusing in on Thorin again and aiming for a different track, "I ask only the knowledge and capability to defend those I care for.  You would not deny me that, would you?"

"Wouldn't I?" Thorin asked. "What are you to me that I would accept you into my life, or the life of my family?"

"Why do you do what you do if not for the protection of others?" Bard asked, narrowly keeping his tone even.

Thorin narrowed his eyes at him. "You act like you know much, to come here and throw such words around."

"Which word offends you so?" Bard asked, leaning ever so slightly toward Thorin, "Protection?"

"That you act as if that is not my goal," Thorin said. "When you accuse me of another motivation."

Bard rocked back on his heels again, running a hand over his face and drawing a deep breath.  He grit his teeth for a moment before unclenching his jaw and speaking again, "My apologies.  I meant no actual offense.  Will you help me? Will you train me?"

Thorin gave him another look, confusion and anger on his face before Fili rested a hand on his arm. "Is more help such a bad thing?"

"I do not trust him," Thorin replied. "And there are already too many people I do not trust."

"Please," Bard said, his tone edging closer to desperation than he cared for.  "I have no way to defend those I hold dear against this without your aid."

Thorin looked at Fili again before turning back to Bard. "Fine," he ground out as Beorn came into the clearing, flashlight in one hand and picking twigs out of hair with the other.

"I tripped and lost track of you," he said, seeing Bard before noticing everyone else. "You have listening problems, don't you?"

Bard turned to face him, looking him over with something akin to worry in his eyes, "You tripped into what?  A tree?  That is a lot of twigs in your hair."

"Down a ditch," Beorn said, looking around. "Hearing. Problems. Bard."

Bard ignored the reprimand again, "What is all over your hands?"  He strode over quickly.

"What? Dirt," Beorn said, shaking his head. "Why are you standing with all the vampires and hunters?"

"Are you honestly standing here and telling me that's dirt?" Bard said, gesturing to Beorn's hands. Thorin looked livid at another interloper.

“Yes," he said. "And who knows what else was down there, it was wet."

Bard's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but he decided it was neither the time nor place to push the issue, "Glad you're alright then."

 Beorn scowled at him but before he could push again, Fili stepped forward. "You should be home," he said, more certainty in his voice about that then had been heard in a long time.

Bard darted a glance at Fili and nodded ever so slightly, "Yes.  Take care of yourself."

"You too," Fili said and Beorn frowned at the lot of them. Bard paused for a moment and with another nod finally turned and started for home, sparing a glance to make sure Beorn was with him.

"You need a comprehension aid," Beorn said as they walked way. "Screw a hearing aid."

"No idea what you're talking about," Bard insisted. Beorn let out an angry breath and rubbed his hands off on his pants. "Look, I know what you said.  But they know, first, what's going on and, second, what I need to know to protect the kids."

"And getting involved with them is going to do that?" Beorn asked, disbelief evident in his voice.

"I don't know," Bard answered honestly.  "But doing nothing certainly isn't."

Beorn scowled at him. "You don't know what you're getting into."

"And you do?" Bard watched him from the corner of his eye.

"I didn't say that exactly," Beorn said after a beat. "But I know better than to trust that ilk."

Bard came to a full stop at that and turned to face Beorn, "I'm not saying I trust them.  That’s half the reason for needing to know what I'm doing in the face of this, this apocalypse."

Beorn looked at him again for a long moment. "If you get fired, I'm not supporting you and your kids."

"You've said as much in the past," Bard assured him.

"Well, I'm saying it again," Beorn said. "Go home." He rubbed his hands again, the dirt and water and whatever else from the ditch still on them.

Bard eyed his hands again and then nodded, "Alright.  You do the same.  Get some rest."

"Don't die before work tomorrow," Beorn said.

"You've got my word," Bard said, shaking his head at his partner before heading for home.

-0-

Thorin walked behind Fili, watching his nephew stiffly walk, ignoring Bofur and Ori who were both trying to talk to him softly. Several blocks away from the house, he stopped and turned to Dwalin. "I'm going out tonight," he said. "I'm not going home."

Dwalin stopped, turning to him and considering him for a moment. Dori glanced toward Thorin and Dwalin, pausing to half-listen even as he kept one eye on Fili and Ori and Bofur.

"This isn't wise," Dwalin said.

"Fuck that," Thorin replied and turned around. Fili stopped abruptly as well, head turning to look at his uncle.

Bofur half turned with Fili, "Where are--" he broke off, figuring it wasn't his place to ask.

"Be safe," Thorin said and walked away.

Dori opened his mouth to call Thorin back, but closed it again and nodded, turning back to continue on their way. "Dori," Ori said quietly, finally paying him attention instead of Fili.

"Yes?" Dori asked, his voice quiet and still seeming too loud to his own ears.

"Are you alright?"

He nodded very slightly, "I'm fine, Ori." Even Fili was looking sideways at Dori now but he looked away again quickly enough.

-0-

Bilbo startled at a knock on his door, setting the tea kettle down from where he was pouring a cup of tea.  He hesitated and, reasoning that creatures he didn't want in his apartment because of Hell would be unlikely to knock, went to answer it.  "Yes?  Thorin?"  He stepped back a couple of paces, "Come in, is everything...are you alright?"

“It seems I am going to make a habit of coming here on bad nights."

"That's, that's alright.  Can I get you anything? I was just making myself some tea," Bilbo answered, motioning toward his couch.

"No, thank you," Thorin said, but reached forward and touched the side of Bilbo's face.

Bilbo stilled at that, leaning into the touch instinctively, "The portal's closed I assume?"

"Yes," Thorin said. "It was too easy, but it is closed."

"Don't look too skeptical about it being easy," Bilbo suggested.  "Just appreciate that for tonight.  Worry about it tomorrow."

"I cannot help but worry about it now," he said and smiled wryly. “Though less so, perhaps, now.”

Bilbo offered him a faint smile at that, "When you came in you said it was a bad night, though I would say you did pretty well, all things considered."  He brushed a hand over Thorin's coat sleeve, "Though you could probably stand to clean up a bit."

"Vampires have kin relationships," Thorin said. "It has been a bad night."

Paling, Bilbo pulled Thorin over to the couch, "I take this to mean one of them said as much to you."

"To Fili, actually," Thorin said, allowing himself to be pulled.

"Fuck," Bilbo said and startled, blinking twice at the fact that he'd actually said that aloud.

Thorin hummed in agreement and pulled Bilbo down with him, dragging him up on his lap, before seeming to realize he may have been crossing boundaries. Bilbo simply settled himself a bit more comfortably and leaned against Thorin's chest, "How badly are you taking it?"

"I have not decided yet," Thorin said finally. "Badly."

“And Fili?  How much worse is this going to make things for him?"  Bilbo asked, head resting against Thorin's shoulder.

"As bad as he already is?" Thorin sighed, hands sliding around Bilbo's waist before he thought about it, holding him tighter. It still felt raw in his chest to admit anything was wrong with Fili but all he could think about was his angry face only a few nights before when he stormed out of the library, and the defiant look he had given Thorin so many months ago when he was asked if he was trying to get himself killed.

Bilbo let his hand rest over Thorin's heart, just breathing and focusing on Thorin's heartbeat for a moment, "I'm glad you came here tonight.  Even if it has been a bad night."

Thorin offered him a strained smile. "It... it is nice to be here," he said finally.

"I'm only sorry I can't do more," Bilbo murmured.

"Honestly," Thorin murmured. "What more could you do?"

"Nothing but offer you a place to come to when you need it," the fae answered quietly.

"I think you already have offered that," Thorin said with a faint smile that did not quite reach his eyes.

Bilbo reached up to trace his fingers over Thorin's brow, offering him a ghost of a smile in response. "Unless you'd rather rescind that offer," Thorin murmured.

"By the lady, certainly not," Bilbo replied, vehemently.  "My home's always open to you, Thorin."

"The lady?" Thorin asked, cautiously. "Is that a fae thing?"

Bilbo's lips quirked upward again and he nodded, "Yes, yes I suppose it is.  She's the giver of fruits, nurturer of growing things."

"Seems a kind deity," Thorin said.

"Somewhat," Bilbo agreed, nodding.  "As much as we have deity's at least."

"I simply," Thorin started and seemed to give up, placing one hand around the back of Bilbo's neck and drawing him in for a kiss. His hands moving to rest against Thorin's shoulders, Bilbo melted into the kiss, his lips parting ever so slightly.

Thorin was too distracted to smile into the kiss, instead twining his fingers in Bilbo's hair. "Tomorrow," he said. "Perhaps we should talk. But now I'd rather this."

Bilbo nodded ever so slightly, "This is good for now." Thorin finally did smile at him before dragging him back into the kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case you thought your authors were serious when it came to actually sitting down and writing this story, have a literal conversation we had in the middle of a scene:
> 
> VS: ((FFFFFFIIIIILLLLIIIII))  
> VS: (("that stuff isn't my strong suit" and he's sitting there going "pretty much my only strong suit is chopping things up."))  
> Megan: ((Fiiiiilliiiiii))  
> VS: ((Not good at theory, not good at emotions, not good at books... i mean really i have a sword))  
> VS: ((HIS INSECURITY IS SHOWING))  
> VS: ((AGAIN))  
> Megan: ((Fili, honey, oh Fili))


	24. Clumsy Way of Showing It

Bilbo shifted the plant in his arms around, considering it for another long moment and finally knocked on the hunters' door.  He still wasn't certain this was the best idea he had ever had, but he also felt that somehow it was right.

Gimli opened the door and blinked at him. "Oh. Mr. Baggins. Thorin is out."

Bilbo offered him a smile, "I was actually hoping to see Fili."

“Really?" Gimli frowned and noticed the plant that Bilbo was holding. "Oh. Um. He lives out in the cottage now."

"Much appreciated," Bilbo murmured, ducking his head in a half bow before turning to circle the house to the cottage.

Gimli blinked after him, almost following and deciding that some air would be nice, placing himself behind the large tree in the back that stood between the house and the cottage.

Bilbo hesitated for another long moment on the steps of the cottage before figuring that he had come this far and knocking once more.

The door opened a moment later, Dori blinking at Bilbo for a long moment and blocking the door effectively, "Yes?  Can I help you?"

"I was, I was told Fili was living out here now?"  Bilbo answered, shifting back on his heels.

"He is.  Why?"

"Well, I, that is," Bilbo drew himself up to his full, rather insubstantial, height, "I brought him something."

Fili and Ori looked at each other from where they had met up in the hallway to see who was at the door before Fili joined Dori. "Bilbo," he greeted.

Bilbo offered Fili a bright, more than slightly relieved smile, "Hello, Fili."

"What can I help you with?" Fili asked.

"I, well,"  Bilbo held out the potted plant, a wide-leafed specimen with waxy, deep green leaves and narrow stems, "I wanted to give you this."

"A plant?" Fili asked in confusion, Ori hanging over his shoulder suddenly, his own eyes wide. "Why... why a plant?"

"Well, it just, it seemed like the thing to do.  It's not a difficult plant, if the leaves droop it needs water and if it's near a window it's happy with that.  But I didn't have any idea what else might be--" he cut himself off and tried to reorder his thoughts, "I thought it might, might be something to brighten up the place a little.  I mean, it doesn't flower or anything like that, but something--" he stopped before he said 'living'.

Fili blinked. "And... why?" he asked, even as he gingerly accepted the plant.

Bilbo mentally cursed his inability to actually make something up, "Because I thought you needed something to look after, to care for.  And because I heard about you and Bofur."

"Oh," Fili said. "Um. Thorin?"

Bilbo nodded once, ignoring the way Dori disappeared back into the cottage at that. "Right," Fili said to himself, turning the plant around. "Erm. Thank you."

Bilbo's fingers twitched but beyond that he managed not to flinch at the thanks, simply nodding.  "Take care, Fili.  And you, Ori.  Good day."

"Yeah," Fili said, still staring at the plant. "Have a good day." Bilbo nodded once to them and slipped away. Fili closed the door, not having taken his eyes off the plant now entrusted to him.

Dori appeared in the doorway to the small kitchen that the cottage had, "A plant."

"He means well," Fili said, flatly. "I think."

"Clumsy way of showing it," Dori mused, but shook his head and disappeared back into the kitchen.

Fili shrugged, moving mechanically back to the bedroom he had been given, putting the plant in the window and staring at it.

Ori found him there, nearly have an hour later, chin propped up against his bed headboard and watching the sun move across the plant. "Um, Fili?"

"I can barely keep myself alive," Fili said, finally moving. "How the hell am I supposed to keep a plant alive?"

"I think they're a bit easier," Ori said faintly, moving to sit down next to Fili. "I mean, they just need water, not things like... like love and understanding and purpose."

"Purpose," Fili repeated. "You know, you're the second person to tell me I needed that recently."

"I... not specifically," Ori said. "Everyone needs purpose. I think you already have one."

"Even if it's mad?" Fili asked, still staring at the plant.

"Even if it's mad," Ori confirmed. "Are you really that worried about the plant?"

"Someone gave it to me because they were worried," Fili said, and his voice was flat. "Because they wanted to show they cared. It," and he laughed bitterly. "It's a shade nicer than what mother ever did. But yes, I'm worried about the poor thing that was put into my care. My hands are not gentle caretakers."

Ori looked at him for a long moment before he reached a finger out and touched the nearest leaf. “We could put it in Nori’s old room,” he said quietly. “That way we could all see it, if we were looking for a book or something. And it would mean,” and he swallowed, trailing off.

For a long moment Fili did not react before he smiled faintly. “Yeah, alright,” he murmured.

-0-

Glorfindel was pacing one of the lower halls, he hadn't been able to fully calm himself since the portal and he couldn't seem to stay still.  Giving up on striding past the same space of wall he continued on, stalking through the corridors until he reached the room where Erestor was and stepped inside, the only noise he made the click of the latch.

"What is it?" Erestor asked, stretched out where he was reading, flipping through books before turning to the next one.

"I came to offer what help I could," Glorfindel replied, crossing to Erestor's side.

"You are no help at all in the state you're in," Erestor said, not unkindly.

"I'm not much good for anything in the state I'm in," Glorfindel snapped before huffing and pinching the bridge of his nose.  "Damn."

Erestor only ticked a brow up, staring at Glorfindel. "You would probably be good for destroying things," he offered.

Glorfindel shook his head at that, "I'm past that point, all that would do is likely agitate me more.  There's also not much in this mansion that I can destroy even if I did think it would help."

"Training doesn't help?" Erestor asked, turning another page.

"Training by myself doesn't, and I worry what I might do should I train with someone else."  He folded himself down to sit on the floor beside where Erestor was reading, leaning his head back against the couch.  He still tended more toward the ground than the soft cushions, though he slept well enough in a bed.

"I think it would be frowned upon to hurt one of our own," Erestor agreed, hand idly in Glorfindel's hair. He switched topics without his voice changing at all. "The demons are not going to take you back."

Glorfindel let his eyes slip closed and he leaned into the touch ever so slightly like an overgrown cat, "I know that.  I knew that.  It was, it was the smell.  I can face them, but the smell, the proximity..." He trailed off into silence again.

"The portal opening you mean," Erestor said.

The blond nodded, "I hadn't expected it to affect me like this.  Perhaps I should have."

Erestor wisely did not agree with him. "It is one thing to expect the portal to open, another to see it again. It has been a long time since portals opened regularly."

Opening his eyes again, Glorfindel hummed his agreement, "Fortunately for the world, hm?"

"Yes," he agreed. "One could even say I've grown fond of the world and like to see it intact."

"It's rather a broken sort of place, but I like it," Glorfindel agreed.

"When will the boy be coming back for training?" Erestor asked. "I watched him with Galadriel, she had him behind her while she closed the portal last."

"I think he was due sometime today," Glorfindel said.

Erestor hummed. "And that give you nothing to look forward to?"

Glorfindel shrugged slightly, "Something, but I'm not exactly fit for company right now."

"I thought you liked him," Erestor said, scrutinizing the book.

"Yes, I like him," Glorfindel said, pausing and turning his head enough to look at Erestor, "Are we going to have that fight again?"

"Fight?" Erestor asked. "What fight?"

Glorfindel's eyebrows rose and he shook his head, "Never mind."

"It was not a fight," Erestor said, a snap in his voice. "It was... a ..." and he paused because it had not particularly been a conversation either.

"If you say anything resembling 'reasoned discussion' or any permutation thereof I will insist you have your head examined," Glorfindel said, still watching Erestor out of the corner of his eye.

"I stopped myself before going that far," Erestor muttered.

Glorfindel hummed, turning to stare at the opposite wall again, "Yes, I like him.  No, it's nothing more than that.  I also highly doubt the hunters will be sending him on his own this time."

Erestor snorted. "If they think that's going to change anything now..."

Glorfindel's lips twitched into the faintest of smiles, "Of course it won't.  But one can hardly expect hunters to change their ways now."

"They used up their quota," Erestor said flatly.

Glorfindel snorted at that, "And yet their younger generation seems to go out of their way to seek change."

"Yes, open rebellion against the status quo is the best way to change hearts and minds," Erestor said. "And if that boy had never become one of us? If hell wasn't opening? Do you really think this change is going to last?"

"I don't know. I doubt it though," Glorfindel murmured. "It would be strange if it did."

"Then they are not going out of their way to seek change, they are accepting it as a necessary action."

Glorfindel tilted his head back far enough to look at Erestor, "Which does not actually preclude them going out of their way in that action."

"In most meaningful and productive ways it does," Erestor said, arching a brow down at him.

Glorfindel hummed noncommittally and turned back to focusing on the far wall, "Perhaps.  I don't know, I feel they're far more inclined toward accepting that as necessary action than their older generation."

"And that may be a turning point," Erestor said. "But they are not revolutionaries, either."

Glorfindel pushed himself to his feet again, stretching absently, "No, far from it. Whether it's a turning point or not though we have to get through the portals first."

"How practical," Erestor remarked, and he smirked at Glorfindel. "See what happens once we survive."

Glorfindel spread his hands, his lips curling into a smile, "What can I say?  It's taken a while, but I've learned how to be practical sometimes."

Erestor huffed and turned to look at him. "It took you long enough," he said, but looked sad.

Glorfindel took a step over to him, resting a hand against Erestor's cheek and leaning down to kiss him, "What's bothering you, love?"

"It," Erestor started and paused. "Someone is at the door," he said flatly instead of actually answering.

The other vampire huffed an unneeded breath as he pulled back and turned to leave the room, "We should probably get that."

“Yes," Erestor agreed.

Glorfindel paused in the doorway to look back over the shoulder at Erestor again, but exited and went to answer the door, carefully keeping away from where the light would fall.

"Hello," Ori greeted, and Erestor had stopped at the top of the stairs, leaning against the railing.

Dori stepped in behind Ori, letting his gaze sweep around the foyer.  Glorfindel closed the door, nodding to them both, "Galadriel is expecting you in the same room as before, Ori."

"Yes," Ori agreed. "It's good to see you again."

Glorfindel offered him a bit of a smile, "And you as well."  He motioned toward where Erestor was, "I'm sure you remember Erestor?"

"Hard to forget," Dori murmured.

Erestor's smile was thin.

"It's good to see you again too," Ori said brightly and Erestor's brow twitched up and then down again.

"You said she was waiting?" Dori asked, looking clearly like he wanted to be out of there as soon as possible.

Glorfindel nodded once, watching Dori carefully.

Ori slid sideways and left, closing the door behind him. Dori stared at the closed door for a long moment, "He's in there alone with her?"

"Your hovering is not helping him," Glorfindel said, leaning against the wall.

The hunter turned to stare at him, offering him a chilling look, "What?"

"Your hovering.  He's far more safe learning magic than not being trained at all, which from what I can tell is what he had, or nearly, prior to this," Glorfindel said.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't I?"  The blond vampire arched an eyebrow, "Your brother is like a beacon.  And you sent him out into the world unarmed."

Erestor floated down the stairs and came to a stop next to Glorfindel. He gave his lover a look before turning back to Dori.

"What are you talking about?" Dori demanded.

"I am talking about the fact that even in the echo of Galadriel closing the first portal and having come out of Hell itself I could still sense him," Glorfindel replied calmly.

"He wasn't un--"

Glorfindel's eyebrows rose, "So he was trained to defend himself rather than hide from the night?"

"He has so much potential to do _other things_ , I just--"

"He grew up in this world, do you really think that _that_ young man would ignore that fact?"

"You just expected him to grow up, and never look outside the night and want to fight?" Erestor asked.

"Of-of course not," Dori stammered out.

"You should have done something toward his training.  You can't protect him forever, and you can't cloister him away either," Glorfindel said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"And you would know?"

Glorfindel shrugged, "I know that you'd rather turn down the help that could be offered than risk losing control over his safety."

Dori looked unimpressed, "And I assume you're part of that 'help'?"

Glorfindel shrugged very slightly, "I am certainly willing to be.  Your brother is the one who walked in here, who had already befriended two of ours."

"Befriended?  He met them under false pretenses. And if you think for one moment that I actually trust _any of you_ with Ori you're out of your goddamn mind," Dori snapped.

"I'm sorry, was this about trust?" Erestor asked. "Whether he met them under false pretenses or not, that does not negate the friendship they have acquired since then."

"This is about whether I've any inclination to accept whatever help you're presuming to offer.  I don't trust you with his safety."

"He's an adult," Glorfindel shot back.  "And he appears to be making his own decisions whether you like it or not.  At least here you know there are more than a couple who are willing to keep him safe."

"Safe from yourselves as well?" Dori replied.

"We are not mindless beasts," Erestor snapped. "We may not be tied to the same mortality humans claim but we do not hurt our own the way your kind does." He paused, as that was not strictly true. "Not since Feanor's line died out,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

"And I've only, what, your word on that?" Dori said.

"Centuries of evidence," Glorfindel said, a growl starting to thrum in the back of his throat.

"Humans fight wars with each other," Erestor snapped. "Vampires rarely have. Our enemies are the same enemies that humans have. Along with humans."

"Except for yourselves.  Ori isn't one of you," Dori protested.

"And none of us desire to turn him, if that is your fear," Glorfindel replied, eyes narrowing.

"Our differences are not so great," Erestor shrugged, not looking at Glorfindel.

Dori frowned at him, "You honestly think that?"

"You're talking of assumptions and speculations," Glorfindel answered.  "We're talking about what we know."

Erestor frowned. "No. Perhaps you are right. After all vampires do not needlessly kill each other or sell other vampires to the highest bidder to suit their own interest. What so called crimes we commit are simply a byproduct of our predator nature. We eat to survive we do not kill for our pleasure. Is it so different to kill a human and an animal. Tell me, hunter, are you a vegetarian?"

Dori gaped at him, stammering for a moment before he shook his head, "No, no I'm not."

Glorfindel stared at Erestor, but spoke to Dori without ever looking at the hunter, "And that would be the point we're making.  We're predators.  We hunt.  Unlike you we cannot survive on anything but blood."

"You think it is different to kill a human and cattle," Erestor said quietly. "We do not."

Dori opened his mouth to speak again but Glorfindel shook his head once, cutting him off, "Don't.  It's as simple as that.  We need blood to live, and we will hunt because of that fact.  We do not kill mindlessly.  And treating us like we do is a disservice to us and to yourself."

"You're about to say you have minds and cattle do not, aren't you?" Erestor asked.

"I was actually going to say that you claim humanity and yet eat humans.  It doesn't work like that," Dori replied.

"And if that was what we were claiming that would be true," Glorfindel said.  "We're saying we're not as far from it as you think, not that we are human.  Because we're not."

"Some humans ate other humans," Erestor shrugged. "Simply because you do not as a society anymore..."

"I'm beginning to regret participating in this conversation," Dori muttered.

"Ah, and here I thought we were having a grand old time," Glorfindel said, lips twisting into what might pass as a smile.

"I have no desire to be human or be considered human," Erestor said, turning back to the stairs. "Just stop being such a hypocrite."

Dori watched him go and started to turn back to Glorfindel who shook his head once, "Stay here, the chairs over there are quite comfortable and Ori will be out when he's out."  With that he turned and followed Erestor.

"I don't want talk,, Erestor said when he heard the other approach behind him. "If that's what you're after."

"You mean about how specific that was back there?"  Glorfindel shook his head, falling into step with Erestor, "I told you before that I wasn't going to make you talk about it. Though perhaps you could stand to sometime."

"The arrangement when we started this was... was that we were lovers not in love," Erestor said, not looking at him. "There would be no sentimental declarations or confessions or talk about... feelings." He shook his head. "That was three hundred years ago, wasn't it? A lot has changed."

"That was our arrangement, yes," Glorfindel agreed, mildly.  "And yes, as you keep reminding me, much has changed.  I'm not asking for talk of feelings, Erestor.  That's never been something I expected of you."

"I meant it's pathetic to say there are no feelings involved when I mourned and missed you for three hundred years!” Erestor snapped, more emotion in his voice then could be usually heard. “Clearly to say there was nothing was a lie and maybe it's time to admit that and admit the arrangement was stupid to begin with," and Erestor clicked his jaw shut, watching Glorfindel almost warily.

Glorfindel considered Erestor for a long moment, saying nothing as he turned those words over and over in his mind.  He finally met Erestor's gaze, "I hope you mean the arrangement regarding not having emotions for one another rather than the arrangement as a whole.  I'm glad if you do.  I would have willingly carried this on as we did before for you, but I would prefer to be open with how I feel for you."

"As you have not been before?" Erestor asked, still cautious.

"As I have not dared before," Glorfindel corrected. "You have been dear to me for a very, very long time, Erestor."

"I don't want to ask how long," Erestor admitted finally.

Glorfindel paused to consider that and then nodded very slightly, "Alright."

Erestor stared at him for a long moment. "We can talk about ... things," he said. "Just not all at once."

"In your own time," Glorfindel agreed.

"Alright," he said, still wary. "Are you not going to sit in on the training then?"

"No, not today, I don't think."

Erestor hummed, the most agreement he could give in that moment and turned back to the library.

Glorfindel hesitated for the briefest of moments before trailing after him, intending to either help as he could or settle in to read in Erestor's space, not willing to be away from the other vampire for the time being.

-0-

“You really don’t have to walk me to the grocery store,” Fili said, when he saw Kili waiting outside the brightly lit building.

“Technically I’m walking you back from it,” Kili replied.

“There aren’t so many demons around,” Fili said, and the pack of cigarettes in his pocket felt like they were burning a hole there with Kili watching him. At least he had gotten milk and tea for Ori too, and orange juice he would deny was for the scratch at the back of his throat.

“It’s still night,” Kili said, and they fell in together as they walked, Fili’s hands in his leather jacket and Kili’s behind his head. Fili tried not to comment on Kili’s changed clothes, now bright and garish, and not designed to keep in much heat, compared to his old dark blues and browns layered over each other because he had always been cold during the winter.

“I can take care of myself,” Fili said instead and Kili hummed. “What, you’re honestly not going to start about that too are you?”

“Start about what?” Kili asked, looking at Fili with wide eyes and Fili snorted, looking away, and fingering the cigarettes in his pocket before forcefully pulling his hands back out.

He viciously kicked at the ground and it felt like countless other nights and like something that had never existed before, to be strolling down the dark street with Kili.

“So is your excuse really that you’re an actor?” Kili asked after a beat and Fili stared at him in confusion before he remembered the sword at his side.

“Yeah,” he said finally. “As long as I don’t pull it out, that works mostly. Though, I guess, if I pulled it out it would look so weird and so unlike any other metal anyone’s seen that they might actually buy it as a prop.”

“Sure, as long as they have no idea what a sharp edge looks like,” Kili snorted and they walked in silence for another block.

“Aren’t you cold at all?” Fili asked, because the air was cold enough to be sharp, and if there had been clouds it probably would have been snowing.

“I,” Kili started and seemed to think about it before he continued. “I don’t really feel it anymore. Not sure how the heat would feel, but I suppose it might not affect me either.” His eyes slid over when Fili remained silent. “Does it bother you?”

“Bother?” Fili shook his head. “Not sure that’s exactly the right word.”

“How is everyone?” Kili asked after another moment, where Fili drew in one long breath and Kili did nothing at all. “Like, mother,” and he stopped. “She wouldn’t want me to call her that anymore, would she?”

Fili’s laugh was bitter answer enough. “No,” he said and Kili looked down. “She wouldn’t. She has certainly disowned you from her family.”

“But you haven’t,” Kili said faintly and Fili shook his head. “And you and her, are you guys…” and he stopped at the look Fili gave him.

“We aren’t talking.”

“Because of me?” Kili said and he looked more vulnerable than he had in years, since Fili told him he was not going to college after all and not to worry.

Fili’s eyes flickered over and his fingers itched horribly for the cigarettes. “Somewhat,” he said. “We argued. It’s not,” and he sighed, ducking his own head down. “It’s not just about you.”

“But she can’t accept this, can she?” Kili asked. “Fuck, she’s probably angry that you’re even talking to me still, let alone—”

“That I didn’t kill you when I should have,” Fili said. “It’s been going for a long time.”

Kili faltered and his fists clenched. “She—”

“Please don’t start,” Fili said instead, voice deceptively calm.

Except Kili had stopped on the street and was staring at him. “How bad have things gotten?” he demanded.

“How bad were things before?” Fili asked, turning around. “Because they’re worse, but they always have been. Just because it’s worse does not mean it was ever good and you know that too so why bother to ask?” He shook his head in angry frustration. “How do you think things have been?”

Kili looked down before his eyes snapped back up. “You don’t deserve that,” he said. “And then you and Bofur—”

“Don’t,” Fili cut off.

“No, we need to talk about this,” Kili snapped. “He’s not—”

“We aren’t together,” Fili said, cutting his brother off. “We broke it off, alright? You don’t have to say how fucked up it was, okay? I get it. Or, I got it eventually, all right?”

“You,” Kili faltered. “You, uh, broke up? Are you okay?”

“Fine,” Fili growled and stalked away, Kili barely having to exert himself to catch up.

“You know, you used not to find it so hard to talk to me,” Kili said, grabbing Fili’s arm and yanking him around with more force than he meant, letting go immediately when Fili hissed in pain.

“You used to live with me,” Fili said. “We used to share everything and now, and now,” and he broke off, looking down but Kili was still crowded into his space.

“You know,” he said finally. “It’s awful. Because that house, with the vampires? They may be morally fucked but at least they care more about taking care of each other as a family then ours ever did.”

“What?” Fili growled, eyes darting up.

“Isn’t that awful?” Kili repeated. “They support each other, and care about their opinions and what matters to them. Unlike Thorin or Dis.”

“Don’t,” Fili said quietly. “Please, Kili, don’t.”

“No,” Kili said, and shoved him. “You shouldn’t just accept this! You deserve more!”

“More?” Fili repeated shifting back to accommodate the push. “More like what, exactly?

“I don’t know,” Kili said, and shook his head. “Just something else. Someone else, people who aren’t… why did you never leave?” he asked instead, changing tracts halfway through his thought. “You talked about it, about going to college and just leaving.”

“It’s not really family you can leave,” Fili said, like it was something he had thought about before. “Besides, you didn’t want me to and I couldn’t justify leaving you there.”

Kili flinched and looked at his brother sideways. “You stayed because of me?”

Fili returned the look. “Of course,” he said and Kili frowned. He let that thought shimmer as they reached the boundary of the house’s wall.

“You remember Elladan and Elrohir, right?” Kili said and Fili snorted. “They are rather hard to forget. Well, they’re the ones who convinced me not to come after you.” For some reason admitting that felt important to him.

“What?” Fili asked, freezing completely.

“Well, they were the ones who—because if I turned you, you would have died,” Kili said and stopped. “Except, that, well, there’s,” and he faltered because Fili was staring at him and he did not know about what Thorin came storming to the mansion about, why turning Fili might not be so dangerous for both of them. Kili took an unconscious step closer to Fili who stood still and stared at him. “I mean, we both would have died and I couldn’t—” he paused. “I mean, I mean, you would still, not, that shouldn’t be past tense—” except he realized horribly that it probably was.

“They convinced you?” Fili said finally. “And you let them?”

“I wasn’t going to turn you just to lose you!” Kili snapped. “I didn’t want you to hate me, and I didn’t want to get killed by the other vampires for it or have you die because I couldn’t protect you!”

“You’ve thought about it that much?” Fili managed, and he was still staring at Kili. “You actually thought about it? And came up with reasons not to?”

Kili stilled and he became inhumanly frozen. He stared at Fili like he had never seen him before. “Did you want me to?” he asked, voice so soft it was nearly lost in the space between them.  He started drifting toward his brother, who had stopped breathing. “Fili, do you want me to take you away from—”

And Fili was turning away, striding up the last few steps toward the cottage. “Fili?” Kili asked, too shocked to move until Fili was already passing the door way. “Fili!”

Fili slammed the door behind him. “Fili!” Kili stood in the middle of the yard he had grown up in, between the old house and the former gardener’s cottage and he howled at the closed door between him and his brother.

Several seconds later the door opened and Kili barely had a second to hope before he registered Ori standing on the other side, face pale. “You can’t come in,” he said and Kili moved so quickly he almost slammed into the invisible barrier and Ori flinched two quick steps back. “This is still a home and you cannot enter uninvited.”

“Let me in,” Kili snarled. “I need to talk to him.”

“No,” Ori said, setting his jaw and staring. “He’ll talk to you when he’s ready and you need to leave him alone until then.”

“Let me in,” Kili demanded again and Ori shook his head, taking another step back.

“I can’t,” he said. “He’ll be ready when he’s ready.”

And he closed the door too so that Kili kicked it, viciously, splintering the bottom before turning and looping away, rage and confusion carrying him until he stormed into the mansion, only managing not to slam the door through force of will.  Heading up the stairs two at a time and too quickly for the human eye, he burst into the twin's pool room. "Stop me from doing anything stupid."

Elrohir straightened smoothly from where he'd been twisted at a nearly impossible angle to make a shot into the corner pocket, "Seems a tall order.  What sort of stupid are we talking about?"

"Fili," he ground out.

Elladan arched a brow. "Weren't we over that?

Elrohir's brows drew together slightly as he retraced all of their conversations and nodded slightly, "I'm sure we already dealt with this."

"No we didn't," Kili said, something dark in his eyes. "We didn't talk about our inhumane blood or the fact that he all but said he wanted me to have turned him."

That brought Elrohir up short, "Well fuck.  No, no we didn't."  He looked at Elladan and then back to Kili, "You're going to have to listen to us if you actually expect us to help you with this. And that starts with not going out without one or both of us."

"To hell with you," Kili snapped, all his self control having gone into getting back into the mansion and up the stairs enough to explain the situation.

Elrohir was across the room and directly in front of him in an instant, eyes narrowed as he looked Kili in the eye, "No, you _listen._   You came in here and demanded we stop you from 'doing something stupid'. We can't do that in this situation without knowing where the fuck you are.  We tried talking and that apparently wasn't enough, there's too many other factors."

Kili looked feral, Elladan having frozen next to the pool table. "He didn't answer me," Kili said. "When I asked him if he wanted me to turn him he didn't answer. If it was no shouldn't that have been easy?"

Elrohir bit his tongue, nearly slicing it on his fangs, to keep from saying the first thing that came to his mind.  He spared a glance over his shoulder to Elladan and then turned back to Kili, "I don't know him.  I don't know.  Maybe.  But you _can't_ go out alone.  Not after this."

"It will be dawn soon," Elladan said, voice flat. "You must leave it for tonight anyway. You were foolish to be out this late as it was."

Stepping back away from Kili, Elrohir leaned against the pool table, "We'll help you.  But it will mean going out with us from here on."

Kili only sneered at him. "Like I am a useless child?"

"You are when it comes to this," Elladan said, voice still totally flat.

"You came to us for help," Elrohir growled.  "And clearly talking didn't do anything last time."

"It's different this time!" Kili all but wailed.

"Which is why the solution has to be different," Elrohir said, his tone evening and never taking his eyes off of Kili. "If you want us to help you here, you need to work with us, Kili."

"My brother refused to answer me," Kili said, pained. "I don't know what to do but I know what I want to do."

Elrohir nodded very slightly, "I know.  And, I’m asking you to please, don't go out without at least one of us."

Taking a deep and unnecessary breath, Kili finally nodded.

"Okay, good.  So starting tomorrow night you go out with us, yes?" Elrohir confirmed.

"Alright," Kili ground out finally.

Elrohir nodded again, curling a hand around the pool cue again, "Is there anything else we can do for you?"

"No," Kili said and turned around, storming out the door.

"His mood is going to be noticed," Elladan remarked.

"No shit," Elrohir murmured.

Elladan gave him a look and just as quickly wiped his face clean again. "We might need to split up tomorrow."

"Because that’s so easy for us to do," Elrohir glanced at him.

"We talked about doing it before," Elladan shrugged.

"You mean stage a fight."

"We had talked about it, if it comes down to it," Elladan said, still sounding completely unaffected.

"And you're okay with that?" Elrohir turned to face him fully.

“Unless you want to explain to anyone why we're tracking his movements at all times," Elladan replied.

"Damnit," Elrohir growled, running a hand over his face.

"It's not the end of anything yet," Elladan said, still almost completely monotone. "He hasn't actually acted and he came to seek some aid. It's important," Elladan replied. "Come on, the sun's almost up and I don't want to play pool anymore."

Elrohir set the cue down, tilting his head at his brother for a moment before nodding, "Something else on your mind?"

"No," Elladan said, heading for the door. "I'd like to sleep is all."

Elrohir stared after him, but decided against arguing that, "I'll be up in a minute."

For a moment Elladan looked back at him before shutting the door behind himself.

Elrohir leaned against the pool table, watching the door as though willing it to open again before he turned and carefully re-racked the balls, placing the cue ball on its starting mark and returning the cues to their holder.  He paused for another beat and then turned, shutting off the lights and closing the door firmly on his way out.

-0-

The instant the sun came up over the horizon, Fili slammed the door open.

"Where are you going?" Ori asked, holding a cup of tea already as he had not slept hte night before either.

"Out," Fili said shortly but he at least paused in the doorway.

"Out where?" Ori asked, cradling the tea closer against his chest. "You don't look so good you know."

"I'm fine," Fili said, though the scratch in his throat had turned into outright pain and his head felt muzzy.

"There might still be demons out there, even if you don't have to worry about the vampires," Ori said and Fili glared at him.

"I know the danger," he snapped, shutting the door behind him and Ori sighed, chin sinking down against his chest.

-0-

Bard glanced at his watch, before stopping and swinging Tilda up onto his hip so they stood a better chance of getting home soon and so she could better see the displays in the store windows as they passed.  He had intended to do his shopping for all three of the kids that morning, but Tilda had refused to be left behind.  Smiling at her, he nodded toward the store they were passing all lit up with white lights and fake snow in the window, "Shall we look for Sigrid or Bain's Christmas gifts there do you think?"

Tilda considered the window with a serious expression for a moment. "Sigird won't like it," she declared after a minute.

Her father nodded solemnly, "You're probably right.  What about Bain?"

She nodded. "He likes shiny things," she said.

"Then here is where we'll start for him," Bard said, pushing the door open and setting her down again.

She leapt up and almost ran off before very seriously coming back and taking her father's hand. He curled his fingers around her’s, "Thank you, Tilda.  I wouldn't want to get lost."

"Of course not," she agreed. "Stores are confusing."

Bard carefully bit back his smile, nodding seriously, "Yes, they are.  How about you lead the way to where you think we'll find Bain's present."

She nodded, about to turn around when she looked at the window instead and pointed. "Is that Fee?"

Bard turned to look in that direction, blinking twice and then nodding, "I think so?"

"He looks bad," she remarked, already starting back outside of the shop.

Bard swept her up again as he headed to the door, "Yes, yes he does."  He stepped outside, Tilda carefully balanced on his hip again, "Fili?"

Fili stood, looking around the street in some confusion before he finally got his eyes to focus away from the decorations and back on Bard. "Uh?"

Discarding his first comment, Bard took a couple of steps nearer, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Fili said, rubbing a hand over his face. "I didn't realize it was Christmas." Talking hurt, and he should never have left the house, or he should have gone back when his head started aching but the thought of being still made his heart flutter in fear and pain so he had kept moving.

"You didn't realize it was--oh, the," he cut himself off, glancing at Tilda, "the movie?"

"The," and Fili blinked at him, wavering slightly before catching himself. "Oh. Yeah."

"You should be in bed," Tilda declared from Bard's hip.

"Can't sleep," Fili replied, still looking unbalanced. "Not a lot of good."

"She's not wrong though," Bard said, carefully setting Tilda down and trusting her to stay with him.  "You shouldn't be out."

"I'm fine," Fili snapped but he wobbled dangerously when he pushed off the wall too violently.

Bard reached out a hand to steady him instinctively, "You can barely stand."

"It's just a scratchy throat," Fili protested, the closest he had come to admitting he was sick since he went out to get orange juice and cigarettes the night before.

"It doesn't look like just that," Bard replied.

"I," Fili started to protest again and then stumbled hard enough he fell against Bard.

Bard caught him, staggering a half step back at his sudden weight, "That's it.  You need to be home in bed."

Fili tried to mumble something else but it didn't come out right. "Fever," Tilda declared, hanging close to her father but peering up at Fili.

Bard nodded his agreement with her, "Yes, I think so. Can you stay right with me while I help him to the car?" She nodded and Fili made another sound that almost came out as a protest but he let Bard shuffle him away.

Managing to get all three of them into the car, Bard paused long enough to consider whether to try and find the Durins' home and decided that it wasn't worth the interrogation he expected to receive in that situation.  Pulling up to his own house a short time later, he unbuckled Tilda and sent her ahead to get the door open before helping Fili out of the car.

"What," Fili started and sagged against him. "This isn't," he managed and shook his head, trying obviously to focus.

Bain met Tilda at the door. "What is going on?" he asked, tracking his father's progress with the strange man with wide eyes.

Bard didn't bother to reply to Fili, focusing on keeping the blond moving as he spoke to his son, "Bain, go upstairs and make sure my blankets are pulled back, would you?" 

Sigrid appeared at Bain's side, her eyes widening, "Dad?"

"He's sick," Tilda said, looking up at her siblings.

"Doesn't he have a home?" Sigrid asked, looking from her sister to her father and back.

"Sigrid, please," Bard replied, nodding toward the stairs as he helped Fili up the two steps onto the porch.  The children’s' baby sitter appeared in one of the inside doorways and he offered her a vague smile, "I'm home for the day, thank you for being available."

Janey nodded, "I'll see you all Monday."

Bard glanced at where Fili was leaning heavily on him, "I'll let you know, I may be staying home."

"You might be?" Bain asked, reappearing from where he had been in Bard's room. "And why is he going in your room anyway?"

"Because otherwise he's going to have to lie on the floor and that's not good for sick people," Bard answered his son, hearing Sigrid close the door behind Janey as he helped Fili into his room and onto the bed, kneeling down to pull of the younger man's boots.

"Your bed?" Fili managed to repeat, lifting his head enough to watch Bard.

Bard nodded once, setting Fili's boots aside and getting to his feet, "Yes.  Come on, let's get you out of that coat at least."

"Gonna take my weapon too?" Fili asked and fumbled around with his coat, not quite getting it off before he gave up and tried to reach his pant pockets instead.

"It'll stay in the closet," Bard said with another nod, helping Fili get the coat all the way off.

"Phone," Fili muttered, having gotten tangled up in the coat while he was trying to reach for it.

"Hold still," Bard said, finally draping to coat over the end of the bed.  He eyed Fili, "Can you get your phone out?  I'll," he bit back a grimace, "I'll call your house and let them know you're safe."

Fili finally managed to wiggle around enough to get it out, holding it up weakly. "Ori," he said. "Call Ori."

Bard took the phone and nodded, "I will.  Lay back, I'm going to go get you some water and medicine, alright?" Collapsing, Fili gave him a baleful look but seemed to have used up all his energy.

Bard shook his head very slightly, stepping out of the room and flipping through Fili's contact list to find Ori as he went into the bathroom in search of medicine for fevers. Hitting the call button and cradling the phone against his shoulder, he started digging through the bathroom cupboard.

"Fili?" Ori asked, having dived for his phone. "Fili, you asshole, are you admitting you're sick yet?"

"This is Bard actually.  Fili refused to admit he was sick.  He's safe now, but laid up," Bard answered, carefully examining the information on the back of two separate bottles and frowning.

There was a long moment of silence on the other end. "The, uh, cop?" Ori managed after a beat. "Who has Fili's phone. Why the fuck do you have Fili's phone I want to talk to him."

"I have Fili's phone because he handed it to me and told me to call you.  He collapsed in the middle of the sidewalk and I brought him to my home," Bard said, finally deciding on which medicine would be best and grabbing the thermometer while he was at it.  He stepped back into the hall and covered the phone to call down the stairs, "Sigrid, can you bring up a glass of water, please?"

Tilda bounced up the stairs. "I want to help!"

Ori paused again on the other end of the line. "He," and he let out a long breath. "He told you to call me? Charming. I'm going to kill him."

"Let me at least get him on his feet before you do him bodily harm," Bard replied, covering the phone again and looking at Tilda, "Go run and see if you can find a straw for the water Sigrid's bringing up, would you darling?" 

Sigrid side stepped her little sister, quietly offering her father the glass, "How long's he going to stay, Dad?"

"Until he's well enough not to," Bard answered before turning his attention back to the phone.  "I really just called to tell you all that he's safe.  Not well, but safe."

"I'm going to need updates," Ori said. "And you know, protect the secret of where you live with my life. Just so we're clear."

"I'll be sure to update you," Bard promised. "And thank you for keeping that secret."

"I can't tell who would be worse," Ori muttered. "His mother, his uncle, or his brother. Or Bofur. He might still show up out of guilt."

"I'd rather not give the neighbors more cause for gossip and I get the feeling an argument with any of those would be the--" He paused, remembering something, "How bad do you think his brother would be?"

"The worst," Ori said after a beat. "The utter worst."

"Charming family," Bard murmured.  "None of which I'm much inclined to have at my house around my children.  Now, I really ought to go see that he gets some medicine."

Ori swallowed, obviously unhappy even through the phone line. "Take care of him, alright? Just... I mean he's at your house so you didn't leave him on the street but..."

"I promise," Bard said.  "I'll call you on my phone soon so you can have that number, alright?"

"Alright," Ori said, and then in a quiet voice. "He hasn't had a lot of people take care of him." He cleared his throat. "He's going to be resistant."

"I have a three-year-old, a six-year-old, and a seven-year-old," Bard answered, not commenting on the implications in Ori's statement, "I can handle resistant."  He paused, considering for a moment, "If you need to come check on him for your own peace of mind you can, but I need a call before you do."

"Alright," Ori said. "Tomorrow. If he's still there, alright?" Part of him sounded like he expected Bard would ask him to take Fili back with him at that point.

"Unless he manages a miraculous recovery in the next twenty-four hours, he should be here," Bard agreed.

"Alright," Ori agreed and reluctantly said, "I'll talk to you later then."

"Take care," Bard said, hanging up and pocketing the phone as he slipped into the master bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Fili had rolled himself around in the blankets, never having fully gotten under them before pulling them all up and into a cocoon. Bard set the water and Fili's phone down within reach, measuring out a dose of the medicine and speaking softly, "You awake still?"

"Yes," Fili mumbled from underneath the blankets.

"I've got some medicine here for you, but you're going to need to emerge just a little to take it."

There was a pause before Fili shuffled around again, his blond hair that was getting too long poking out in several directions as he stared at Bard over the blankets. Bard held out the medicine and water to Fili, "Ori's going to try to come by tomorrow."

"He angry?" Fili managed, pushing himself up enough to take the medicine from Bard, considering it in vague confusion a moment before remembering how to take it.

"A bit.  More worried I think," Bard answered, taking the water glass back.  He uncapped the thermometer, sliding it into a cover and holding it out, "I'd like a read on your temperature."

Fili wrinkled his noise but he nodded finally, taking the thermometer.

Bard nodded very slightly, murmuring a thank you.  When the thermometer beeped he checked it and  huffed slightly, "Not as bad as it could be, but bad enough.  Get some rest, Fili.  I'll be back to check on you in a little bit."

"Why?" Fili asked, curling up under the blankets again with only his eyes still watching Bard.

"Because I don't think you yelling down the stairs is going to be an option," Bard answered.

Fili's eyes narrowed. "Not what I meant."

"Because you needed help," Bard said, simply. Fili stared at him, like he couldn't make the other man out at all.

Bard's lips twitched upward on the left side, "Get some rest."

"Don't get it," Fili muttered.

"You don't have to," Bard replied, hand resting on the door knob.  "All you need to do right now, is heal."

Fili continued to stare at him before he finally nodded slightly, the motion making his head spin even with laying down. Bard nodded to him once more before slipping out, closing the door softly behind him.

"Is this a good idea?" Bain asked, having been hovering. "What do you really know about him anyway?"

"Leave Fee alone," Tilda protested, pulling on Bain's sleeve.

" _Fee_?" he asked in shock. "Why do you call him _that_?"

Bard gently ushered both of them down the stairs to where Sigrid was hovering at the bottom, answering Bain's questions as he did so, "I know he needs help and he's more likely to get it here than a lot of other places."

"Like his home, with his family?" Bain asked. "He has one, right?"

"He does," Bard said, moving into the living room and sitting down on the couch. "Bain, he's not going to hurt us.  I know that.  And he needed help, and we can offer it."

"But why isn't his family?" Bain persisted and Tilda hit his arm.

"Don't be a meanie."

"I don't know," Bard answered honestly.  "But I called the person he told me to call, and that person will be here tomorrow to see him."

Bain crossed his arms and pouted. "I don't like this."

"I know," Bard said quietly.  "I'm sorry, but he needs our help, just for a few days alright?"

Sighing, Bain nodded. "Where are you going to sleep though?"

 "Probably the couch, or I'll set up some blankets on the floor if that's too uncomfortable."

Bain stared at him for a moment before finally nodded. "I'll help take care of him!" Tilda declared from where she had curled up near Bard's legs.

Bard reached down and tousled her hair, "I don't want you getting sick, so you're to stay out of the bedroom for now, alright?  You can help in other ways."

Tilda pouted before she recovered and nodded.

"Good," Bard said, getting to his feet. "Let's see about some lunch, yeah?"

"I'll help!" Tilda declared again, quite happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fili's sudden onset fever is actually totally based on the way VS has gotten sick (Starts with a scratchy throat and sorta achy feeling but still functional enough to leave home... and then the fever hits. VS went to class one day with a cold and by the time the class was over had a 103 temp. It was not a fun class)
> 
> Bard's kids are super precocious.


	25. It's Still Imposing

The sun was on its last descent when Elrohir finally gave up on his decision from the night before.  He had expected whatever was going on to smooth itself out and be buried like things had in the past, but hours later and he still felt like he would have better luck talking to a glacier than to his twin.  He caught up to Elladan on the landing above the foyer, pulling him to a stop with a hand on his arm, "Alright, what's going on?"

"Nothing," Elladan said, slipping out from under his arm in one graceful motion that almost looked like he hadn't quite meant to do it. "We need to keep an eye on Kili, I saw him with Tauriel a little while ago, they might still be practicing."

Elrohir bit back a growl at that, "Damn it, Elladan.  It's not nothing."

"It's not something either," Elladan said. "Now, we really do need to watch Kili, he'll be able to go out soon and I suspect he'll try to slip out."

"Oh, I suppose it's that lack of something that means you've been practically ignoring me for the last day in ways you have in centuries?" Elrohir demanded, ignoring the valid point about Kili.

"Kili," Elladan reminded.

Elrohir snarled, "He's an idiot, and nothing we do is actually going to stop him if he means to do this.  You realize that, don't you?"

"At least he's trying to give his brother a choice," Elladan snapped and froze.

Elrohir recoiled as though he'd been hit, "Is that...is that what this is?"

For a long moment Elladan only stared at him. "Of _course_ that's what this is," he said finally.

"Have you always resented me for this?" Elrohir asked, managing not to sound nearly as cut adrift as he suddenly felt.

"Always?" Elladan asked. "Of course always, but also no and," he shook his head, for once not articulate.

Elrohir could feel his hands shaking and he clenched them to hide it, "What was I supposed to do? Leave you to, to die of any number of diseases? Leave you to, to be--" He broke off with a growl and shook his head.

"That's not the point," Elladan snapped again.

"What would you have done in my place?" Elrohir snarled back at him.

"Fuck, I don't know," Elladan hissed. "We were catholic, we were in Spain, but you were dead and then suddenly you weren't because you were there but then I was dead and it was the most freeing moment of my life and the most devastating and you didn't bother to ask me! If I had said no, would you even have had the power to turn away and let me live my life?" and his voice raised in pitch until he was yelling loudly enough that Tauriel and Kili both poked their heads out into the hallway, Erestor opening the library door before deciding better of it and retreating further away.

"I don't know!"  Elrohir replied, his voice rising to match Elladan's.  "Damn you, I don't know.  I've _never_ known anything but you! Always following you in everything but death itself. Would I have had the power to turn away from the only thing I knew?"  He growled, stepping forward until he was barely a pace away from Elladan, "I don't think I would have.  To know, to know that you were out there living without me, stepping toward your permanent death every breath you took?  No, I wouldn't."  Arwen and Legolas stuck their heads over the third floor railing to better glimpse what was happening, Elrond's office door ajar though he hadn't come to it when their voices started echoing.

"And that justified it?" Elladan yelled. "Not knowing anything else?"

"I didn't say that.  I never said that," Elrohir snapped.

"But you wouldn't have allowed me another life," Elladan said.

"I was hardly able to allow you another life when we were _living_."

"You gave me no choice and no chance! You gave me unending life and you didn't even bother to ask if I wanted you!"

Elrohir fell completely still at that, "You, but..."

" _Kili_ ," he said, waving a hand. "Is trying to give his brother more of a choice and isn't that pathetic?" Still listening to the conversation, Kili pulled a face but remained silent rather than step into the middle of the storm.

"At least you're finally being honest," Elrohir managed to bite out.

"You're still not getting it!" Elladan snapped. "I have ever been _honest_ with you but that doesn't mean there aren't other things too! I'm not fucking stone I'm not static!"

"No you're not static, but this has apparently been hanging over us for centuries," Elrohir growled.

If he had been calmer Elladan would have admitted that perhaps he had never articulated it or realized it before until another situation shoved it in his face. Instead, he hissed again. "Yes, focus on that by all means instead of what I'm actually saying."

Elrohir bared his fangs at that, "Explain then.  Because you say I didn't give you a choice.  That I've never apologized for something I didn't consider wrong."

"Then maybe you should have."

"It's been more than four centuries been and gone since it happened.  What else have you stockpiled that's going to come back to bite us both?" Elrohir demanded.

"As if you haven't any either," Elladan snapped. "Don't turn this around as something wrong I did!"

Growling low in his throat, Elrohir shook his head, "No, no of course not.  Nothing you did wrong, couldn't possibly have."

Elladan started swearing at him in Spanish in the middle of the hallway.

Elrohir set his jaw and backed two steps before turning to leave, "Go fuck yourself."

"What, you wouldn't be jealous?" Elladan asked with false sweetness.

"Why would I be?" Elrohir replied, offering a smile that was more bared fangs than anything.

"Why because you're the _only_ one supposed to do that."

Elrohir turned back, looking his twin over for a long moment, "Maybe it's time for a change."

Elladan stared at him. "Right," he said, slowly, darkly, realizing the fight had gotten out of control and turned away, not even noticing Kili was no longer standing with Tauriel.

Elrohir watched him go before turning on his heel and retreating deeper into the mansion.

-0-

Kili tore around the hunter's home and back again. Fili wasn't in the kitchen, he wasn't in Thorin's study, and he wasn't in the cottage at all. Finally, he gave in and knocked on the cottage door, figuring Ori would open it.

The door opened, Dori standing just beyond the doorway, a crossbow held loosely in his hands, "What do you want?"

"Where is Fili?" Kili demanded, not caring about the cross bow or the look Dori was giving him.

"Not here."

"Why not?" he demanded. "Everyone else is here, he can't be out on his own again!"

"He's not out alone.  And he's safe."

"But not here?" Kili asked. "That's not... where else is safe? There isn't anywhere else for him to be and I need to talk to him."

"That's not my problem," Dori said, simply.  "There's no reason for me to tell you where Fili is.  You know he's safe, and I am assured he's being cared for."

Kili snarled at him, having never much cared for Dori even in life. "I need to talk to my brother."

Ori paused over Dori's shoulder, hands wrapped up in his scarf.

"And I need you to leave my doorstep," Dori replied, frowning.  "He's not here.  And I can't tell you where he is."

Kili met Ori's eyes over his brother's shoulder, and Ori shook his head too slightly, indicating he wouldn't talk either and Kili bared his fangs at both of them before jumping back and scaling the wall to the compound, too fast for a human and too annoyed to bother going out the normal way through the gate.

Dori closed the door, bolting it and swearing softly as he set the crossbow down on the table by the door, careful to unload it as he did so. "Did you hear their fight last night?" Ori asked. "Or in the morning rather?"

"Bits and pieces," Dori said.  "Not as much as I could have, probably."

"The end of it?" Ori asked, voice small.

Dori shook his head, "No.  Ori, what is it?"

“I don’t know what the fight ended on but I think it might have been Kili asking Fili to go with him because all I heard in the end was Kili screaming his name and then Fili was storming in here," Ori said, all in a rush. "He slammed the door in his face."

Dori paled, running a hand over his face, "Oh god.  You're sure Fili's safe where he is?"

"It's a home with three children," Ori said. "I mean, as long as he doesn't invite him in."

"I hope he has more sense than that," Dori murmured.

"He has three kids," Ori said and paused. "You know, that cop that was in the park?"

"The human who showed up and faced Thorin?" Dori confirmed.

"Yes," Ori nodded, for once not teasing Dori about how he got tense about people in Thorin’s space or insulting him.

Dori considered that, remembering the man and then nodded, "Alright."

"He's not the foolish type I think," Ori said. "And... I don't know. He offered to take care of Fili."

"And you know where that is, correct?"

Ori nodded. "I was going to go tomorrow. Fili stopped there before the portal opened last time."

"Alright." Dori looked at the door again and shook his head very slightly.

-0-

Kili stormed through the town, desperately checking the places he thought Fili might be from their childhood, the nooks and dinners they had frequented the most. But Fili wasn't anywhere he could find and Kili felt panic claw at his throat in a way it had not since he still breathed regularly.

Finally he found himself standing on a street corner and remembered the cop's house. For a moment he fought with himself before deciding any chance was better than aimlessly wandering and set off the way he had followed Fili that night.

Reaching the street it took him several minutes to remember exactly which house it was, peeking in the downstairs windows and seeing a family of three children with their father eating around a dinner table before climbing the nearby tree to check the bedrooms out of desperation. He let out a shocked sound when he found Fili in the master bed room. His fever had changed and instead of being buried in the blankets he had thrown most of them off and was thrashing and moaning in fever dreams. Mouth dropping, Kili leaned forward on the branch before he leaned back and settled against the tree trunk.

Bard entered the bedroom a few minutes later, closing the door behind him and turning on a dim lamp by the bed.  He reached out and laid the back of his hand against Fili's brow, shaking his head and withdrawing to refill the glass of water sitting by the bedside.  Re-entering the room he paused as he thought he saw something glint out the window.  Pulling the sheet back up over Fili, Bard crossed to the window, opening it and resting one hand on the frame and the other on the sill.  It took a moment for his eyes to adjust and when they did they focused on Kili, "Strange place to be this time of night."

Kili shrugged. "Why is my brother here?" he demanded, slinking forward to sit on the edge of the tree branch, almost at the window.

"Why are you in my tree?" Bard replied.

"Because my brother's here."

Bard opened his mouth, decided that was not something he was going to debate at the moment and answered the question he had been asked, "He's here because he's ill."

"But why here?" Kili demanded and his eyes darted over when Fili moaned again, seeming to mutter something in his sleep and roll over again, kicking the blanket back off.

"Because it was closer," Bard flicked his gaze toward Fili and then back to Kili.

"Closer?" Kili asked. "You could have asked someone to pick him up, why do you care?" He was straddling the branch, his legs hanging down as he scrutinized Bard.

"I'm not actually sure I have to justify myself to someone sitting in my tree stalking his brother," Bard answered.

Kili almost snarled at him. "He's my _brother_ ," he said. The realization that he couldn't talk to Fili or address the issue burning under his breast bone was irritating enough. "You might call me stalking him but how the fuck do I know any of your intentions are honorable?"

"Do you have a different word to define sitting in a tree outside someone’s window?" Bard asked.

Kili flicked a hand in annoyance. "Watching out for him. I asked about you."

"You don't know that my intentions are honorable, but you also don't know that they aren't.  Your brother is sick, he collapsed on the street, and the longer I keep this window open talking to the strange man in my tree the longer the December air is negatively affecting him.  Are you done?"

Kili startled forward in alarm and anger. "No, I'm not done you haven't answered my damn question."

"I care because it's what I do.  Because he bothered to come and let me know when the last portal opened.  Now, we're done," Bard said firmly, starting to close the window.

"And that all means he ends up in your bed?" Kili demanded and there was obviously ugly jealousy on his face for a moment. "Charming reason for me to trust you."

Bard paused, considering Kili for a long moment, "He's in the bed because it's better than the floor.  Now, get out of my tree before I call and let them know where you're at."

"Let who know?" Kili scoffed.

Bard simply arched an eyebrow at him before closing the window and drawing the curtains. Kili threw a pinecone at the window and yelled at it before sulking back against the trunk of the tree, where he stayed, listening attentively to the sounds of Fili through the wall.

-0-

"Da, were you talking to someone?" Bain asked, when Bard finally came back downstairs.

"How's Fee?" Tilda asked in the same moment.

"Fili's asleep, his fever's still high but he should be alright, TIlda."  Bard looked at his son and nodded slightly, "One of Fili's family members.  Same rules as always: don't let anyone in until I have."

Bain stared at him for a long moment, clearly wanting to ask a hundred more questions or barricade himself in his room.

Looking at her father, Tilda bounced around slightly before settling. "How long until you find out if he's alright?"

"What if the people are Fili's family?" Sigrid asked, watching her father quietly.

Bard thought of the way Kili's eyes had reflected back the light from the bedroom window, the way he crouched in the tree, and his far too light clothes for the season and shook his head, "Even then.  Rules apply.  And it could be another day or so, Tilda." She pouted before nodding.

Bard glanced at the clock, nodding once, "Alright, how about a movie and then bed, it's been a long day."

"Can I pick?" Tilda asked perking up. Sigrid shrugged and nodded and then looked to Bain for his agreement too.

"Fine," Bain sighed finally, giving in to the inevitable.

-0-

Ori hesitated, worried he did not have the right door before he raised a gloved hand and knocked. There was a brief sound of movement which paused as though someone was checking the peephole in the door before it opened, Bard stepping aside, "Hello, Ori."

"Don't invite me in," Ori said and stepped over the threshold. "Though I assume you don't mind if I do. You know not to invite people in right?"

"Yes, I know not to invite people in."  He glanced outside, "I also watched you walk through direct sunlight on your way to the door, I'm hoping that's a bit of an indicator as well."

"Well, yes," Ori agreed after a beat. "But there are creatures other than vampires who need an invitation. It's just best not to give them out." He paused. "Did, um, anyone else come by?"

Bard nodded once, "He showed up in the tree outside the bedroom window.  Does he do that often?"

"Kili, you mean?" Ori asked weakly.

He nodded again, sighing slightly, "Yeah, that's who I mean."

Ori stared at him before he rubbed a hand over his face. "He does that more than anyone but Fili suspects, as far as I can tell. I had hoped he didn't know about your house."

"I'm just trying to figure out how exactly he knew about it," Bard replied.

"He probably followed Fili here," Ori said, bluntly as he pulled his coat and knitted gloved off, toeing off his boots in the doorway.

"Son of--" Bard pinched the bridge of his nose, "Of course."

Ori turned to look at him a long moment. "Yeah?"

"The first night I found out about, about this mess. Kili showed up.  Fili walked me home."

"He followed Fili," Ori repeated, more sure. "Also probably because Fili being out alone is a very, very bad thing. Especially at night."

"I'm getting that," Bard murmured, motioning toward the kitchen doorway if Ori wanted to go in there rather than the living room where he hoped he would be able to distract his children to if he had to.  "How badly does he not care for his own health and wellbeing?"

"Um," Ori blinked at him. "You noticed that?"

"He argued that he was fine when my three-year-old could see he had a fever and continued the protest that while he was collapsing.  It's kind of hard to miss."

Ori winced. "Um. Well. It's a lot worse than probably what you’re thinking.”

"How bad?" Bard asked.  "Can I get you anything?"

"You've seen demons right?" Ori asked. "Tea, if you have any."

"Herbal alright? And I have, yes," Bard said, digging through the cupboards for the tea he usually brought out when Beorn came over.

"Yeah," Ori said. "Well. Imagine a seven foot demon with a spike instead of a hand with scars all over his body and imagine Fili throwing himself on said demon with no weapons."

Bard nearly dropped the teakettle in the sink at that, turning to look at Ori in shock before recovering enough to fill the kettle.  He shut off the water and put the kettle on to boil before he managed to ask another question, "Does he have a death wish?"

"Yes," Ori said, too prompt for him to have to think about it.

Bard drew a deep breath at that and nodded very slightly, "How long has that been the case?"

"I don't know," Ori admitted. "I think it's been a long time in coming at least. But when Kili... well..."

"He's not....he's not alive anymore is he," Bard said, thinking it probably should have been a question.

The side of Ori's mouth twisted. "He's a vampire, yeah."

"That’s good to have confirmed."

Ori shrugged. "Confirmed?"

"He showed up in the tree outside the bedroom window rather than at the door, and is dressing for much warmer weather than we're having right now."  He paused, "It also explains what they meant about his missing person's case being 'complicated'."

"Ah," Ori managed. "Yeah. Well. We tend to file missing person's rather than death reports unless there's a, a solid," and he floundered for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Body that's obvious. Also for vampires. It was different, a few weeks ago before the world was ending because we weren't trying to work together. Thorin and Dis--that's Fili's uncle and mother--they were insisting he had to kill Kili, preferably himself and move on."

Bard gaped at Ori for a long moment, "They did what?"

"Vampires aren't human," Ori said. "They are evil and it's our family's duty to destroy them. At least, according to them. So yes. They tried to convince him to kill his brother again. The death wish thing it making a lot more sense right about now, isn’t it?”

"They--"  Bard frowned, trying to wrap his mind around the mentality that would say that, "If they're so convinced of it why don't they do it themselves, then?"

"They would have tried, I'll give them that," Ori said. "It's just, Kili follows Fili. He had a lot more chances, a lot of them he didn't take."

"Do you think he should have?  Not that he would have, but that he should have."

Ori paused. "It would have destroyed him," he said. "I grew up with them, I can't imagine life without either of them. So no. I don't. But Kili scares me now too. Fili scares me. It," he shook his head and met Bard's eyes again. "Look. Listen. I'm only telling you this because Fili won't and you ... I'm not sure what you're doing with him and by the way if you hurt him any more then he’s already hurt, I will hurt you. I swear to god I will. But if you care about him, or want something from him, which it seems you do as you took him here instead of just bringing him home, then you should know this. Partly just so you don't hurt him more, and partly so you understand and fuck if there's another ally in keeping him alive I'd be pretty happy. That's why you're hearing this and why I'll answer any questions you have but I swear, if you're going to hurt him or if you just want to use him I'm taking him home right now do you understand me?"

"I do understand. I'm not going to hurt him, and I don't want to use him.  But he came here to warn me and my children when the last portal opened.  He'd met me once and it hadn't been a shining moment for either of us, but he cared enough to do that.  And, well," his lips quirked ever so slightly, "Tilda's taken a shine to him."

"The youngest, right?" Ori said, still looking somewhat distrustful.

Bard nodded very slightly, pouring a cup of tea for Ori and offering it to him, "Yes, that's right."

Ori nodded, still watching him. "Alright. Another thing though. Fili went from losing Kili into a romantic relationship with a significantly older man."

"Do all of you have such unhealthy coping mechanisms, or is it just Fili?" Bard asked after a moment, getting himself a glass of water.

"I drink tea and demand magic lessons from vampires," Ori said after a beat with a tiny shrug. "So I can't say any of them are great per say. But he's, uh, cornered a market."

"I'm not looking for a relationship with him," Bard answered honestly.  "Bain distrusts him, Sigrid won't really talk to me about it but she's been quieter the last day or so."

Ori considered. "Are you attracted to him?"

"Yes.  But that's not the most relevant question in this equation."

"Well, at least that means I can knock you off the list of people using him for his looks that made me want to punch so many people in high school," Ori said, nodding. "But something could happen. If things changed."

"Yes, something could," Bard admitted.  "But right now I'm not looking for anything with him."

"But you still care?" Ori asked, cautious and surprised.

Bard looked at him over the rim of his water glass before setting it down, "Yes?  Is that such a surprise?"

"What have I possibly said that makes you surprised it's a surprise?" Ori asked and he sounded exhausted.

"Nothing, unfortunately," Bard sighed.  "I don't think he's awake, and his fever hasn't broken yet, but do you want to see him?"

"Yes, I would," Ori said, taking a fortifying sip of tea and rising, bringing the cup with him.

Bard pushed off the counter, leading the way upstairs and glancing toward the kids' rooms suspicious of exactly how quite they were all being.  He opened the door to the master bedroom, motioning Ori ahead of him.

Ori cradled the tea against his chest as he entered, looking around in curiosity before approaching the bed and perching on the edge. Holding the tea in one hand, the other reached out to smooth back Fili's hair from his forehead. "Oh Fili," he murmured. "You don't do things in halves ever, do you? Can't just get a cold."

Bard paused for a moment, but closed the door quietly and went to check on his children and leave Ori in peace for the moment.

"Is Fee any better?" Tilda asked from her doorway, sleepily rubbing her eyes.

"Not yet, honey.  His friend's here to see him though," he picked her up, glancing in to see Sigrid burrowing further under her covers rather than getting up.

"Can we see the friend?" Tilda asked.

"Maybe when he gets ready to go home," Bard answered quietly as he opened the door to Bain's room enough to look in and confirm that all was well before withdrawing again.

A short while later, Ori emerged from Bard's room, his scarf hiked up over his nose. "He's having minor hallucinations," he warned.

Bard nodded very slightly, "I'll keep an eye on him, and I'll call you if things change."

"Oh, you're the director," Bain said, finally emerging from his room and blinking at Ori.

Sigrid appeared behind her brother, her hair tousled, "What's he doing here, Da?"

Bard glanced at his children, "He's here to see Fili."

"Yes, he's my cousin, friend, and star," Ori said after a slow blink at becoming the director of the made up film without realizing it. It made him want to laugh.

"What's the movie about?" Sigrid asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Vampires," Ori said promptly. "And demons and heroes and all that stuff. Lots of gore and B rated horror, far too old for you," and there was something sad in his eyes when he said the last line lightly.

"That's why he carries a sword?"  Sigrid confirmed.

Bard nodded, "Yes, Sigrid."

"Well, he's the hero," Ori said. "Caught up between the worlds and really good at winning the fight. So yeah. He fits the part well doesn't he?"

"I guess," Bain said, unsure what to make of Ori.

Bard's lips twitched upward ever so slightly at that reply, "Thank you, again, Ori.  I'll keep you updated."

Ori opened his mouth, like he wanted to defend Fili to the child in front of him, because it wasn't a fantasy movie it was reality. Bain ended up beating him to it though. "He's a little bad boy for a hero, isn't he?"

"Only if you think all heroes are pure on white horses," Ori said back. "And yes. Thank you," he added to Bard and held out his empty cup. "Where do you want me to put this?"

Bard took it from him, "I'll take care of it."

"But aren't those the heroes?" Bain asked. "The true and brave and pure?"

Bard shook his head, turning to his son, "Not always, Bain.  Not in real life."

"But it's a movie, isn't it?"

"I need to go," Ori said quietly. "Keep me updated please."

"I will," Bard promised, nodding to Ori.  He waited until Ori had left before turning back to Bain, "It's a movie, but some directors prefer to make their heroes a little less white knights.  Ori's probably one of them."

Bain wrinkled his nose. "But they're supposed to be _good_ right?"

Bard offered his son a slight smile at that, "Yes, but they don't always have to look like they are.  It's the heart that matters, remember."

"I guess," Bain said after a beat and Tilda leapt at him, clinging to his back.

"He could be my hero," she said, Bain shifting until he could accommodate her weight back there.

-0-

Gimli was already out of the house when he hit Legolas' number in his phone, breathing on the tips of his fingers to keep them warm as he waited. Legolas answered his phone after a couple of rings, he had been skirting the periphery of the foyer trying to figure out if he was inclined to go out or not, "Hello?"

"Wanna actually you know, go out alone?" Gimli asked.

Pausing and considering the atmosphere that had been in the mansion for the last day, Legolas nodded and then actually answered out loud, "Yes.  Definitely yes.  Where?"

"Great. I don't care, I'm at, uh, the theater right now," Gimli said. "Sundown is in like five minutes, right?"

"Yeah, yeah it is.  I could, I could meet you there and we can figure it out then?"  Legolas suggested, casting another glance up the stairs.

"Yeah," Gimli agreed, tense and feeling butterflies in his stomach. "That'd be good."

"Great.  I'll see you there."

"Right," Gimli said to his phone and started fidgeting. He had suggested the meeting but now felt his nerves in his throat.

Legolas was out the door, swinging a jacket over his shoulders, the moment the sun was down.  He arrived at the theater fifteen minutes later, letting his eyes dart around the area.  Smiling when he saw Gimli he moved over to him, "Hello."

Gimli jumped slightly, even though he had been waiting for Legolas. "Hello," he said shyly.

Legolas' smile softened, "Had any ideas about where to go while you were waiting?"

"Not really," Gimli said. "Most of my dating ideas come from sitcoms and suck."

"Well, mine are rather outdated," Legolas admitted.  "We could walk around downtown and see if anything catches our eyes?"

"Don't your ideas of dates involve awkward teas and long walks in a graveyard?" Gimli asked, hands shoved in his pockets.

Legolas snorted at that, "No, not quite. Awkward tea is a bit of a privilege."  He paused, glancing at Gimli, "And long walks in a graveyard, really?"

"Don't lie to me," Gimli said. "I've read books and watched the BBC dramas. Apparently they were like what the poor man or the poor city's park. I mean. It makes sense," he shrugged awkwardly.

Legolas grinned at that, "Of course you have.  I did wander through them sometimes, but not with anyone."

"Yeah?" Gimli asked and paused. "And before you ask it was Ori's fault and he made us all watch them."

"I wasn't going to ask," Legolas replied, obviously lying.

"Uh-huh," Gimli said, eyes sliding up to look at the vampire walking beside him. "Yes you were. You were going to ask which horrible period drama was my favorite and tease me about it."

"Alright, probably.  I can't stand those thing," Legolas admitted, grimacing.

"Too sappy?" Gimli asked. "Or inaccurate or what?"

"Depends on the drama, but often one, and sometimes both."

"What, it wasn't all dinner parties with people gazing longingly at each other across the room or brutally rejected marriage proposals and dashing rescues from the rain and fevers?" And he winced because the last line hit too close to home with Fili still gone.

"Maybe for the upper classes," Legolas finally admitted.  "I honestly wouldn't have put it past them."

"Yeah," Gimli sighed after a moment. "Wouldn't it be nice to know?"

Legolas offered him a glance that was almost fond, "Perhaps so."

"Don't you now?" Gimli asked. "You--that house--it must have cost a fortune to build."

"It's....different though," Legolas said.  "I mean, to some extent yes I do know now--I know what it is not to suffer want--but it's not--" he stopped, shrugging.

"Not actually part of society?" Gimli asked after a beat, not sure what Legolas was getting at at all and reaching.

Legolas nodded, "We have our own internal conflicts and dramas." He paused thinking of the way the twins were avoiding each other and how Elrohir had moved his things out of their room the night of the fight, "But that's all it is.  Internal."

"Still," Gimli said. "Place isn't falling down around your ears and you don't actually have protocol for how to move around the rooms when someone dies or someone needs a new bedroom."

Legolas paused at that before shaking his head, "No, that's true."

Gimli sucked in a deep breath. "We should talk about something else," he said.

"Elladan and Elrohir are fighting," Legolas said, looking up at the overcast sky past the streetlights and the glitter of Christmas decorations that the town had put up.

"That's not better," Gimli muttered into his short beard. "But. Er. Sorry?"

"I'm pretty sure I heard Elrond mutter something regarding it being 'about time.'"  Legolas shrugged and then nodded toward a coffee shop, "We could be clichéd and just go there."

"Ugh, no," Gimli said. "Remember, when we went with the twins and Ori?"

Legolas laughed, albeit in embarrassment, "Alright, good point."

Gimli hesitated because they were out on the street before he slowly slid his hand into Legolas'. Legolas startled, but curled his fingers around Gimli's, "It's nice.  Being able to go out."

"If only the world had already gotten around to not ending anymore," Gimli said.

"Erestor's tracing patterns and calculating the next portal.  Well, when Glorfindel's not pestering him out of the library at least," the vampire said.

"Ori's been training a lot, and reading when he's not," Gimli said. "It's just, fuck, it's a lot. Last time went so well, who’s waiting for the other shoe to drop?"

"I think we all are," Legolas admitted quietly.  "Especially after the mess in the goblin tunnels.  I'm glad they all got home safely to you lot."

“Why especially after that mess? I mean it was just the hunters down there, why would you worry?" Gimli asked, looking over and up again.

Legolas blinked once, "Thorin showed up to demand confirmation.  And it's not as though we're really another side right now."

"We're still hunters and vampires and wait," Gimli actually stopped in his confusion. "What do you mean Thorin showed up?"

"Like I said he wanted confirmation of--" He broke off, turning to face Gimli fully, "They didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Gimli asked, cautiously.

Legolas just stared at him for another long moment, "They should have told you."  He hesitated for a long moment, wavering over whether to share what he knew and resolving that he couldn't not do so, "The goblin, the one in charge I think, he apparently, he said Durin wasn't human."

Gimli stared at him. "Okay, what?"

"I didn't know, I swear I didn't.  Not until Thorin came in and demanded answers," Legolas raked a hand over his blond hair.  "They should have _told you_ already."

"You're really going to have to repeat the first part," Gimli said, faintly.

Legolas paused again, but nodded very slightly, "Apparently, apparently Durin wasn't human."

"How not human are we talking?" Gimli managed weakly.

"I don't know.  Celeborn wouldn't tell Thorin."

"I think I would like to sit down," Gimli decided.

Legolas nodded slightly, gesturing to a bench that was just a little bit further, "I’m so sorry.  I really did think they'd told you already."

"No," Gimli said and laughed as he let Legolas guide him to the bench because he couldn't move himself. "No, are you joking?"

Sitting down beside him, Legolas frowned, "They should have."

"Yes," Gimli said and shook his head. "And no."

“No?" Legolas glanced at him in very slight confusion.

Gimli stared at him. "Well. I guess you don't understand my family all that well but, it," and he considered who had been there. "It would destroy some of us, alright?"

"I'm not talking about a public announcement," Legolas replied quietly.

"The more people you tell, the more likely they are to tell others," Gimli rationalized.

Legolas paused at that and then finally nodded, "Alright, that's true."

"My father was down there," Gimli said after a moment.

The vampire bit his tongue on the first thing he thought of saying, "Then I'm very glad they all made it back safe."

Gimli nodded and leaned against Legolas' side. "We suck at dates," he managed.

Legolas huffed something like a laugh, letting his arm rest around Gimli's shoulders, "We do rather."

"Let's save the earth shaking revelations for, I don't know, special occasions," he said, trying to focus on just leaning against the other, and noticing the difference between their temperatures and the lack of a heart beat.

"Agreed," Legolas said, turning his head just enough that he could see Gimli more easily.

"Okay," Gimli said and paused. "I guess this could pass for date like at least."

"At least we don't have chaperones this time."

Gimli laughed and he pressed closer. "True. That's nice," He lifted Legolas' hand closest to his and held it, twining their fingers together and comparing skin tones.

"We should try doing this more often.  You know, when the world's not ending," Legolas said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Let's get through that first," Gimli agreed.

"What would you like to do?  When it's over?  If you could do anything, even if just for a couple months?" Legolas asked after a moment.

"I don't know," Gimli said. "There's not a lot in our lives that's really different. Travel, probably."

Legolas nodded his agreement with that idea, "Travel sounds like it would be nice."

"You have already, haven't you?" Gimli asked, curling deeper into his side.

"Of a sort, yes.  I mean, clearly I've traveled.  But to do it without, say, my sire, would be....not undesirable," his hand came up to idly touch Gimli's red hair.

Gimli snorted. "What pretty words you use," he teased.

"Oh hush you," Legolas muttered, hunching his shoulders in something akin to embarrassment.  "I just mean, that it's probably long since time I left.  We're not, we're not like Galadriel's line."

"No, the not undesirable bit," he said, still wanting to laugh. "You could just say it would be nice and you'd like to do it."

Legolas offered him a hint of a smile at that, "I don't even know where I'd go this time."

“That gets decided after the world is no longer ending,” Gimli said and Legolas didn’t quite laugh, sitting on the bench and still holding hands.

-0-

When Bard opened the door to check on Fili, he found the hunter sitting up in the middle of his bed, hair rumpled but looking cogent for the first time in two days.

"Oh, you're awake," Bard closed the door softly, offering him a bit of a smile.  "How are you feeling?"

"I," Fili tired to say and had to clear his throat, his voice a low rasp. "Feel awful. How long have I been here?"

"Two days," Bard answered, offering him the glass of water from the bedside.

Fili fumbled for it before his hands finally closed around it. "Shit," he said, sipping at the water, though it did nothing to get his voice back.

Bard crossed to the window, drawing the curtain back, "Ori came by to see how you were yesterday."

"Is he alright?" Fili asked, watching Bard and frowning.

"Ori?  He was worried, but as far as I know he seemed to be alright," he turned from the window. "But admittedly I don't know him more than to recognize him."

Fili nodded, fingers curled around the cup a little too tightly. His head felt woozy and he wanted to lie down again but refused. "Good, that's good."

Bard looked Fili over for a moment, "Are you sure you should be vertical yet?"

"I need to go home," he said, but still had not quite made it up and off the bed.

"You need rest," Bard said, but nodded slightly.  "You could shower first, if you like, I can run your clothes through the wash while you do so."

Fili stared at him. "I've imposed on you a lot," he said and looked uncomfortable enough to try and crawl underneath the bed.

"I could have taken you to your own home if I thought you were going to be imposing here," Bard said, moving over to the bedroom door.

"It's still imposing," Fili said. "Whether you accept it or not is not," and he coughed, hunching over the water before straightening and running a hand through his greasy hair. Wincing, he pulled at the strands in annoyance for how dirty they were.

Bard paused at the door, looking back to him, "Your brother stopped by, too, by the way."

Fili's head snapped up, giving him vertigo. "What?" he asked.

"Kili.  Came by...two nights ago.  Honestly, he probably came by last night too, but I don't know that for certain," Bard said.  "Although I use the term 'coming by' loosely in this case."

"How loosely?" Fili rasped. "You didn't invite him in did you?" he asked and almost collapsed backward when he realized how stupidly revealing that question was. But he remained upright through force of will.

"No," Bard said, eying Fili for a moment.  "I tend to frown upon inviting people in who are peering through second story windows via trees."

Fili's jaw worked for a moment and he simply stared at Bard, unable to come up with a single thing to say through his panicked emotions.

Bard paused for a moment, "He's not exactly subtle, your brother."

"Never has been," Fili managed and almost immediately followed with, "About what?"

"In general.  Though the stalking you through the second story window is a special brand of....odd."

Fili stared at him. "Odd," he repeated and his fingers were practically white around the cup.

"He's not human anymore, is he?" Bard asked, already having the answer but not inclined to trip around it with Fili.

Fili curled up around the cup slightly, shoulders hunched. "No."

Bard nodded ever so slightly, knowing every phrase that immediately came to his mind echoed wrong.

"Well, you got the solution to his missing person's case," Fili said, staring blankly at the blankets still twisted around his legs and waist. "He's not really alive anymore. But it's sorta awkward to file a death certificate and have him still walking around where," and he choked slightly. "Where other people could still see him."

"More difficult for you, I'd imagine," Bard said after a moment.

Fili almost managed to laugh. "Difficult. Yeah."

Bard hovered by the door for another moment, but crossed to the bed, sitting down on the edge of it and setting his hand on Fili's shoulder, not saying anything further. Fili flinched, an automatic reaction before he looked up at Bard, looking lost. "What...?"

Bard's hand came up almost automatically to run gently over FIli's hair, "I can't even begin to imagine what it would be to have someone not there and yet there at the same time."

"It," Fili started, wanting to be angry, wanting to be defensive. Instead he only nodded and leaned his head slightly into Bard's hand.

"Does he usually seek you out?" Bard asked after a moment, still petting Fili's hair in a soothing motion.

"Yes," Fili said quietly. "Even when we were supposed to be killing each other, he'd follow me."

Bard kept his voice calm and his touch gentle even as he swallowed back his instinctive response to that, "They expected you to do that?"

"Went a little beyond expect into ordering me to do it," Fili said and he couldn't help but lean closer to the warmth Bard offered. "We fought though, however many nights ago I've been here. Kili and I, I mean."

"Two nights," Bard said by way of answer. "Is it a fight you can move past?"

"No," Fili said. "Not really."

"Do you want to?"

"Move past the fight?" Fili frowned. "I don't know. That's why we had it in the first place."

Bard nodded ever so slightly at that, falling silent and listening to confirm that Fili's breathing was normal, already able to feel that his temperature was.

"So you didn't invite him in?" Fili confirmed, voice still raspy and low.

"That's right.  He stayed out there most of the night is my guess, but he wasn't invited in," Bard replied.

"Good. I don’t... I don't know what he might have done." He was dangerously close to falling asleep again, Bard still petting his hair and when Bard's fingers caught in a few strands he let out a sound almost a low moan.

Bard tensed very slightly at that, but relaxed again, "You should get some more sleep."

"Should shower," Fili protested. "Should go. I'm surprised already Thorin never knocked your door down."

"Ori apparently kept his promise not to say where the house is," Bard answered.  "Get some more rest, you can shower when you wake up again."

"I," Fili started and gave up, nodding.

Bard finally drew back, "Sleep well, I'll try to keep the kids downstairs."

"I... alright."

Bard hesitated for a moment long before rising and slipping out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.

-0-

When Fili woke again a couple hours later, Tilda was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at him with wide eyes. "Da said you were finally waking up and not to bother you. He made chicken noodle soup for breakfast when you can come down."

Sigrid pushed the door open from where Tilda had left it ajar, "Tilda, Da said we're not supposed to be in here."

Fili tried not to smile when Tilda pouted. "But I wanted to tell him about breakfast."

"How long have you been in here?"  Sigrid asked, still hovering in the doorway.

Tilda shrugged, a roll of her tiny shoulders. "Didn't wake him up."

Her sister huffed at that, "Da says we're supposed to go downstairs."  She finally focused on Fili, "I'm glad you're better."

"Thanks," Fili said, even less sure what to do with Sigrid then her littler sister.

"Da also said we can run your clothes through the wash while you shower if you like," Sigrid said matter-of-factly.

Fili blinked, noticing a set of worn pajamas already laid out. "Oh. Thanks."

Sigrid nodded, "Come on, Tilda.  Da'll be wondering where you've run off to."

Tilda nodded, patting Fili's knee before she slid off the bed and bounced after her sister. Sigrid smiled at her little sister as she pulled the door closed behind them.

For a moment Fili didn't move before pulling himself up with a groan and shuffling to the bathroom, stripping off what little he was wearing and turning the shower on far too high.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we actually decided Elladan and Elrohir were Spanish nobility like... in chapter 3 or 4 but not sure it's come up at all? But it was like the 1500s so they were nobles in the middle of the Inquisition, the hey days of the empire and the new world and yeah. If Elladan is swearing in Spanish things have gone pear shaped.
> 
> This was also the chapter when your authors had to stop and research tea and class in Victorian England to make sure one of Legolas' throw away lines was accurate. In a fanfiction au about vampires. Yup. (What's really scary is that VS knows enough about the Victorian time period to catch the line and go no that's probably wrong)
> 
> And Bard has no idea how rare vulnerable!Fili is gonna be. He's usually a prickly, emotionally stunted hedgehog with a death wish, not vulnerable and touch starved (Oh man but how touch starved is he?)


	26. But You, You Seem to be Hiding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're getting spoiled with back to back updates because Medda is working over night shifts and VS is feeling lonely.

Bard had gotten the laundry into the washer a while ago when there was a knock on the front door. Opening it, he paused for a moment when he saw who it was, "Beorn.  Come in."

"This is my usual day to come over and see the kids," Beorn said. "Is something the matter?"

"No, no everything's fine.  The weekend's been busy is all," Bard said, stepping back and closing the door behind his partner.

"The kids alright?" Beorn asked and frowned slightly at Bard's stove as he set the food he brought with him down.

"What?"  Bard realized that the soup was still on the stovetop, "Oh, yes.  Staving off some winter colds and things, but they're fine."

Beorn's eyes flickered up when he thought he heard running water but he nodded. "Alright. Have things quieted down some for you?"

"Some, yes.  Still haven't managed to get out and get the kids' presents yet, but things have definitely quieted down," Bard said, filling the kettle and setting it on to boil.

Before Beorn could say that wasn't what he meant, Tilda came running down the stairs, wrapping an arm around his leg. Sigrid entered just after Tilda, smiling widely when she saw him, "Beorn!"

"My lovely," he greeted with a warm smile and drew her into a hug. "Are you doing well?"

She returned the hug with a firm nod, "Very well.  And you are too?"

"As well as things can be with the news lately," Beorn said as Bain appeared in the doorway and greeted him with a small smile.

Sigrid's brow wrinkled in concern at that as she pulled back to look up at Beorn, "What news?"

"The different attacks," Beorn said. "Don't worry. We'll figure them out and everything will be fine."

"Oh.  Those.  You're going to be careful, right?  You and Da?"  She asked, watching Beorn closely.

"I am very careful," Beorn assured, not speaking for Bard.

Sigrid turned to look at her father, catching the omission. "Da?"

"I'll be careful, Sigrid," he promised, pouring Beorn's tea and setting the cup on the table as he offered his partner a long look.

"What?" Beorn asked as he heard a sound and looked up in time to see Fili coming down the stairs, Bard's pants rolled up several times and the collar of his shirt low enough to reveal his collarbone.

Bard looked in that direction, falling still as his mind ground to a complete standstill.  It took him a long moment to restart his attention and he blinked rapidly before offering Fili a smile, "You looking for breakfast?  I was just going to move the laundry to the dryer--should be done in a little bit."

"That," Fili frowned, having to concentrate. "So another hour?"

Beorn was looking between Fili and Bard in mute shock before he held a hand out. "Tea. Now."

Bard handed him the mug, nodding slightly to Fili, "A little less probably, but yeah about an hour."

He nodded looking warily at Beorn who was glaring at him as he leaned heavily on the railing to stay upright. "You said... breakfast?"

Bard nodded again, reaching for a bowl and dishing up some of the soup, "You shouldn't be standing for very long yet, you look about ready to keel over."

"How long was I out again?" Fili asked, staggering to the table and Tilda bounded up to sit beside him.

"Two days," Bard said, placing the bowl of soup in front of him and stepping through into the adjacent laundry room to start the dryer.

"Da makes the best soup," Tilda assured him. "It'll make you feel better."

Fili looked between her and the soup, realizing he hadn't eaten in almost three days. Slowly he picked up the spoon and took a first tentative bite.

Sigrid watched Fili quietly from where she still stood next to Beorn's chair, only looking away when her father returned, the rumble of the dryer echoing from the laundry room.

"Do sit," Beorn said, finishing his first cup far too quickly and rising to out the kettle back on. Fili seemed focused for the moment entirely on food and eating it without his hand shaking. Bard glanced warily at Beorn at that, but nodded and sat down, watching Tilda's focus on Fili and the way Sigrid followed Beorn over to the stovetop, quietly asking if she could have some tea today as well.

"Of course," Beorn said, pulling down a second cup. Since there was no caffeine and it was organic he had no qualms about agreeing before asking Bard. He frowned at the box of tea when he pulled it down. "Is there less?"

"Da gave a cup to the man who came yesterday," Sigrid answered before Bard could.

"What man?" Beorn asked, eyes sliding over to Bard as Fili's eyes flickered up.

"Umm, Ori I think?  He wears a lot of knitwear.  He came to see how Fili was," Sigrid said.  Bard closed his eyes for a moment--he couldn't get more than a handful of sentences out of her some days, but put Beorn in the house and suddenly Sigrid was full of information.

"Ah," Fili managed and refocused on eating, though he couldn't help the tiny smile at the corner of his mouth.

"I like him," Tilda chirped, Beorn only staring at Bard. "He's a...a... he makes movies!"

"Director," Sigrid supplied for her sister.  Bard offered Beorn a very weak smile and looked quickly away.

"Making a movie, is he?" Beorn asked and Bain finally spoke up.

"He's apparently the hero," he said, gesturing to Fili who dropped his spoon. Tilda solemnly picked it up off the floor and went to fetch him a new one from the drawer.

"Bain thinks he wears too much leather," Sigrid confided to Beorn. Bard ran a hand over his face at that.

Fili decided not to pick the spoon back up quite yet, tilting his chin back when Beorn appraised him. "Your da used to wear more leather,” Beorn said finally, not quite defending Fili.

Sigrid turned wide eyes from Beorn to Bard, "Really?"

Bard offered her a hint of a smile, "Really.  It's been a few years, but I wore quite a lot of it for a long while."

"He had a motorcycle," Beorn said. "It came with the territory."

"Okay," Bain allowed finally. "But that doesn't explain the bruises on his throat. I thought it was make-up but not after three days," Bain said and Fili almost choked, the motion turning into a coughing fit.

Sigrid filled a glass of water and set it on the table for Fili, sitting down in the chair next to where Beorn was, focusing on FIli again, "Did you get in a fight?"

"Yes," Fili said when he could breathe again.

"But you're alright now?" Sigrid asked, watching Fili as though she wasn't sure she would believe his answer.

"From the fight," Fili allowed. "Still sick," and he gave her a weak smile as if that was the only thing bothering him.

"Why'd you get in a fight?" Bain asked. "Did you start it?"

"He was attacking my brother," Fili said and the was something vicious in his answer at the memory and the fear and pain.

 Sigrid paused to consider that and then nodded as though that was perfectly reasonable response.  Bard was carefully focusing on his children and ignoring the looks Beorn kept giving him. Beorn's staring if possible only intensified.

Sigrid opened her mouth to ask another question, her father cutting in right then to head her off, knowing it would be about Fili's brother, "Sigrid, why don't you and Bain go see if you can find that project you were working on to show Beorn?"

She turned to look at Bard, considering that for a moment and then nodded.  Slipping off her chair she headed out the door, leaving it up to Bain to follow her.

Bain took one look at Beorn and the way Fili was gripping the spoon and no longer eating before dragging Tilda along with him. "But," she protested.

"I think the adults need to talk," he said and she flailed around for a moment before finally letting her hands fall and following him out. Bard watched them go, listening until he heard them head upstairs before turning back to Beorn and Fili.

"Oh, are you going to have this conversation with me still sitting here?" Fili asked, brittle and Beorn set the mug he held down with too much force.

"Are you fucking stupid?" he hissed. "I said, by the way, consider avoiding the Durins because they are bad news and then you have one upstairs dressing your clothes?"

"I guess that's a yes," Fili muttered.

"Oh for the love of god, Beorn."  Bard said, getting to his feet and crossing to lean against the counter, "I am actually able to make my own decisions. And that includes who comes into my house and who doesn't."

"You have no idea what you're stepping into," Beorn snarled. "You don't understand what they are?"

Fili's hand tightened on the spoon and instead of rising to the occasion, he methodically started eating the soup again.

"I'm still wondering how you know exactly," Bard replied sharply, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at his partner.

"Our families have history," Beorn said and that got Fili's attention.

"We do?"

Bard frowned, "You've said that before, but you've yet to explain what the hell that has to do with now."

"Their kind does not change," Beorn snapped.

"People change all the time," Fili muttered but there was no actual belief backing up his words.

"They're dangerous," Beorn continued, ignoring him. "To themselves and others."

Bard stared at Beorn in disbelief, "Do you even hear the things coming out of your mouth?  Their 'kind' doesn't change?"

"Non humans take a lot more to change than humans do," Beorn said and Fili dropped the spoon again, clattering violently to the floor.

"Excuse me?"

"What did you just--what?" Bard blinked rapidly at Beorn.

"Durin's blood may have been diluted over the generations," Beorn shrugged, Fili staring at him. "But can you honestly tell me your family is anything except unsafe? You live in a crumbling house and have no life skills except killing vampires and god knows what even goes on in that house when the doors are closed. You can't be as violent as you are and have a cute home life."

Fili looked like he had stopped breathing.

"Beorn," Bard's voice cut through the room, his eyes narrowing, "Stop."

"You do not--" Beorn started and Fili cut him off.

"He's right," he said, voice still raspy from his fever and hand shaking. "Not--I don't know about the Durin thing. But, he's right."

"It doesn't--"  Bard's hands tensed where they rested against his arms, "Which part?"

"The violent part, the fact we're dangerous," Fili said faintly. "You met my brother, right?"

"In his current state, yes," Bard said with a very slight nod.

"And what part of that encounter made you think we were a stable group?" Fili asked and his smile was sardonic enough Beorn startled.

"None of it," Bard said steadily.  "I met your uncle too, remember? I'm not going to claim you're healthy or entirely stable either.  But I'm also not going to make judgments based on things other than your own actions, which include coming to warn me about the last portal opening and making sure I got home to my children after our first encounter."

Fili and Beorn both stared at him before Beorn quite seriously handed Fili another spoon. "Try not to drop this one." Fili accepted it, but kept staring at Bard.

Bard pointed at Beorn, "This should not come as a surprise to you.  I'm done justifying my decision.  I made the decisions I made, and there were reasons for them and I see no reason to change those choices at this point."

Beorn rubbed a hand over his face, dropping two tea bags into his cup when he finally pulled the kettle off the stove. "Yeah. That tends to be your life view. I guess I should stop being surprised."

"Mhm," Bard glanced at Beorn before his attention turned back to Fili.  "As to your family, it's you and Ori who have my respect and a certain level of trust."

"Ori must have made quite an impression," Fili managed faintly. "As he didn't do so well when he first came here."

"It was quite the impression, yes," Bard agreed quietly.  "He kept his word about who would know exactly where this house is, for one."

Fili was still staring at him like he expected another shoe to drop. "Do I want to know what he said?" he asked warily, Beorn sipping his tea like he was calm.

"That he wouldn't tell anyone," Bard answered, "so that your uncle or mother or brother wouldn't arrive.  As neither of the first two came by and the third seemed to find it because of...other reasons...I have no reason to doubt him."

Fili frowned, but he bowed his head over the soup again as the children poked their heads back around the door. Bard offered them a gentle smile and nodded to indicate that the adults were done talking for the moment and they could come back in.

Tilda instantly took her space back up on the chair next to Fili, and Beorn made the correct sounds at the right points over Bain and Sigrid's project until the dryer finally started buzzing. Bard went and got the laundry out of the dryer, reentering the kitchen and handing Fili the pile of his clothes.

"Thank you," Fili said quietly, giving up on the second portion of soup Tilda was trying to convince him to eat. His stomach churned too much as he rose, going into the nearest bathroom instead of trying to take the stairs again.

Bard picked up the bowl, emptying it out and setting it in the sink, looking at Beorn, "I'm going to see him home, can you stay with the kids?"

"Yeah," Beorn said. "We'll manage somehow to not burn the house down."

Bard huffed a laugh, "That’s the best I'm getting isn't it?"

"Currently," Beorn agreed, Tilda bouncing around before he gently pushed her toward the living room. "Try not to crash."

Bard shook his head, watching as Sigrid and Bain followed their sister before going to find his coat and car keys.

Fili met him in the entry way, shifting in his coat and feeling like he just wanted to lie back down. "I could just walk," he protested.

"You're out of bed for the first time in two days after a dangerously high fever," Bard said, opening the door.  "You're not walking home."

Fili sighed and when he stepped outside the cold air hit him like a blow. Gasping, he caught himself before staggering and turned back to Bard. "I thought that was what you were going to say," he said, holding his collar up higher.

"You've got me pretty well figured out then," Bard said with a wry smile, moving over to the car and getting it unlocked.

"Not really," Fili said, following him.

"You're going to have to let me know where I'm heading," Bard said as they got into the car and he started it up.

"Oh hell," Fili murmured after a moment. "Alright. Turn left."

Bard turned where indicated, driving in silence for a block and a half before speaking, "Ori was very adamant in his protection of you, that's what, that's what gained him my respect."

"Shit," Fili said. "What did he say?"

"That if I intended to hurt you or use you he was taking you home, consequences be damned," Bard answered, pausing for a moment before continuing.  "He told me about Kili, too."

"Was this after Kili showed up at the window?" Fili confirmed, head too muzzy to sort out the timeline on his own.

"Yes.  I had asked for confirmation of my suspicions and Ori gave it."

"He must have been losing his mind," FIli said, head sinking against the window. "My brother, I mean."

"He seemed relatively calm when I first caught him outside the window, but I don't know how long he had been there by then either."

"It's deceptive," Fili murmured. "Was he calm the whole conversation?"

"No," Bard replied with a small shake of his head.

"What did he say?" Fili asked, trying to remain calm himself.

"Demanded to know why you were there and what sort of justification I had for you ending up in my bed," Bard replied.

Fili stared at him, glad Bard could not look over and see the expression on his face. "He," he managed and wanted to groan or scream. "Seriously?"

Bard's lips twitched sardonically, "I don't think we much got along. As I wasn't inclined to explain myself to someone perched in the branches of my tree stalking someone through the second story window."

"Wanna explain yourself to me?" Fili asked. "You didn't have a guest room, did you?"

"No, no guest room," Bard agreed.  "And I brought you here because, well because I cared to see you somewhere safe.  You ended up at my house as much because I wasn't feeling up to arguing with your uncle, which I think likely to happen if I end up in his space, as because I wanted to know you were recovering and actually resting as much as one can with a fever like yours."

"You still brought an almost complete stranger into your home, with your children," Fili said.

"You couldn't even stand up on your own," Bard pointed out.

"I can now," Fili said. "And you don't have to be able to stand or even move to hurt people. Or if you had... I don't know. If Kili had come inside."

"Which he didn't.  Look, I'm not saying I've made my best choices in the last couple of days, but retroactive concern over them doesn't actually help anyone." Bard fell silent for a moment and then glanced at Fili, "Can you explain your brother's....territorial reaction to you?"

"Territorial?" Fili asked, tentatively.

 "It's the closest word I have at the moment for his behavior in the tree."

"We have always been close," Fili said, looking down at his hands and concentrating on what he was saying, missing the turn off for his road. "Closer, perhaps, then we should have been and since he was ... killed and turned, things have been different."

"How different?" Bard asked, glancing at Fili.

"More violent," Fili said, and realized he was cradling his left hand in his right. He jumped, jerking them away from each other and looking out the window. "More intense. More likely to ask me awful questions."

"What sort of answers do you give him?"

"Who says I answered any of his questions?" Fili asked, staring out the window intently. "It's why he's so mad."

Bard considered that. “Ah.  And he makes a habit of following you around?"

"Yes," he said, realizing finally he had missed the turn, but not willing to mention it yet. "When we were younger, I would do anything he asked," he admitted. "Don't leave me alone Fee, and I didn't go to college. Teach me how to fight like you do, Fee, even though mother and uncle have expressly forbidden it as his age and what did I do? And now I can't even answer his questions, let alone do what he's asking me."

Bard kept himself from saying that it didn't sound like Fili had been content with either situation--doing whatever Kili asked or the inability to do it now.  "What's he asking of you?  Or is that far too invasive?"

"He asked me if I wanted to sleep with him," Fili admitted, never having imagined he ever would mention that to anyone outside of Thorin and Bofur who had both heard it. "Then he asked me if I wanted to be a vampire."

Bard blinked twice at that, "So when you say you were closer than you should have been?"

Fili shot him a dark look. "I don't _know_. He was angry when he asked the first question, and dead serious when he asked the second, but I don't know if he would ever have asked if he hadn't become something else. Vampires are different, siblings are different. I don't even know what my answer would have been if he had asked when mortal. All we've had... I mean, we had people like Ori, we had uncle and mother but so much of our lives it was about each other and then he's gone only he's not he's back all the time but different. What was I supposed to say to a question like that? Is it inconceivable because I don't, or because I never allowed myself to think about it?"

"I think that might be the wrong question to ask," Bard said, shaking his head ever so slightly. "Because there's no way to answer what ifs.  Not really.  And you'll just end up on a never ending spiral of second-guessing yourself."

"That," Fili paused, almost managing a smile. "Is a lame answer."

Bard's lips twitched upward ever so slightly, "Okay, yes it really is a lame answer.  But that doesn't make it any less true.   My other response sounded even worse, so..."

"Oh no," Fili said. "Go on, try that one."

"How did you feel when he suggested it?" Bard asked, his attention on the road.  "The first thing, not the second."

Fili snorted. "Afraid, mostly. Confused and angry he would bring it up. Once I had time to think about it."

"More confused or angry?" Bard asked quietly.

"It was the first time we had talked since he became a vampire, and he had his teeth to my throat at the time," Fili said. "Angry, probably."

"If that was your greater response, I don't think you need to worry quite so much about the questions you're asking yourself," Bard murmured.

Fili shook his head slightly. "I wish I could agree with that."

Bard paused for a long moment before speaking again, "What about the second thing he asked you?  About turning you?"

"I want," he sighed. "I don't want to be a vampire. But I want to be with my brother."

"Is there a way to be with him without being a vampire?"

"Don't know," Fili said. "For a while, I suppose." Bard nodded very slightly, but fell silent again. "I've never talked about this before," Fili said quietly. "You missed the turn."

"It sounded like you need to," Bard said as he turned the car around.  "What street is it?"

"I'll remember it this time," Fili said.

"Alright." He paused for a moment, "Are you ready to go back?"

"I don't think I'll ever be," Fili said. "Not really."

"If you need to get out of the house, our door is open to you," Bard said quietly.

"You're still crazy," Fili said. "What the hell have I said to convince you that was still a good idea?"

"It was never a  good idea.  But I'm also not convinced it's a bad one either," Bard replied simply.

"Turn here," Fili said, instead of trying to answer.

Bard nodded ever so slightly, turning where indicated and finally pulling up to the hunters' house, shutting off the car. "Well," Fili managed as Ori appeared at the doorway, already running down the driveway as he had been waiting for a car all morning. "I guess you know where it is now, if you want training."

Bard offered him a slight smile, "Thank you.  I'll be taking you up on that.  Today though I have to get back to the kids."

"You shouldn't," Fili started and shook his head, getting out of the car as Ori reached them.

Bard watched Fili for a moment, shaking his head very slightly at Fili's words and then nodded to Ori, "You should probably rest for a few more days, Fili.  But I'm glad you're on your feet again.  Take care."

Fili nodded tightly and Ori took his arm when he swayed again. "Thank you," Ori said, for Fili who only nodded. It was a marked difference from how willing he had been to talk in the car.

Bard's eyebrows twitched downward ever so slightly but he offered them a faint smile and pulled away, heading home rather than linger.

"You're an idiot," Ori said, emphatically.

"Yes," Fili agreed, sagging against him. "Yes, alright, I am."

Bofur had followed Ori out of the house, but had hung back at the door.  He took a couple of steps down the walk. "Hi," Fili said, noticing him. "Worried?"

Bofur offered him a crooked smile and nodded a bit, "Ori said you were safe, but sick.  Feeling better?"

"I can walk and talk," Fili said. "And there's no more fever hallucinations. I think better is a good term."

"I'm glad," Bofur said, sincerely meaning it. He thought he understood why Ori had been adamantly not telling people where Fili was, but he had needed to see for himself that Fili was doing better and had actually been safe.

"What, you weren't worried were you?" Fili forced a smile.

"Fili," Ori said quietly. " _Everyone_ heard Kili yelling at you and then you disappeared. Damage control does not begin to cover it."

Bofur nodded slightly, more in support of Ori's assessment than in answer to what Fili had already asked, "I'm glad you were, and are safe."

Fili looked between Ori and Bofur, leaning a bit more heavily on Ori. "I hadn't thought about that," he managed.

"We're getting you to bed," Ori declared. "And guarding the door, okay? Bofur, a hand?" Bofur nodded slightly, moving to support Fili's other side without a word.

"Haven't been this close in a while," Fili said, too woozy and tired to stop himself.

Bofur blinked at him, but shook his head, "No, we haven't."

Fili flushed, looking down. "Bed," Ori decided, dragging Fili toward the cottage. "Then we'll tell the other's you're back."

 

"How was mom?" Fili asked, before he could stop himself.

 Bofur glanced toward Ori before answering, "Dangerously quiet.  I've never had much of a read on her, but I'd say she was worried."

"I'd believe that if I saw it," Fili said, wishing he hadn't bothered to answer.

Bofur nodded very slightly, not saying anything more on the subject.

"Just get to bed," Ori sighed. "Okay? Okay."

They managed to get Fili to his room.  Bofur glanced around at the space, it was definitely a place to sleep, but it felt unlived in. Helping Fili to the bed, Bofur stepped back, letting his gaze shift around the room once more before nodding to Fili and Ori and excusing himself.

Ori looked after him before turning back to Fili. "You look better."

"Which is still awful?" Fili confirmed.

The front door was heard opening and closing, Dori's voice calling down the hall, "Ori?"  His footsteps could be heard and he appeared in the doorway moments later, offering Fili a slight upward twitch of his lips, "Glad to see you home."

Fili's smile was thin. "Miss me then?"

"Too quiet without you here," Dori said by way of answer, though that wasn't entirely true as Fili had been alarmingly quiet since moving into the cottage.

Fili blinked but then he gave a small smile at the lie. "I'll try to keep breathing extra loud then," he said and regretted it.

"Anything I can get for you two before I settle in the library?" Dori asked, careful to make it sound like he was asking as though they were working on some project or other rather than it being because Fili was too weak to get it himself.

"Do you know of anyone who might have history with our family?" Fili asked after a beat. "Also, do you happen to know anything about Durin?" and Ori did not have the time to think about the way his head whipped over to Fili.

Dori was nodding in answer to the first question but completely froze at the second, paling, "We've got books on creatures and people that our family has come into conflict with over the centuries.  There's rather a lot of them."

"You could cross reference with bears?" Fili offered and looked between them.

Dori nodded slightly at that, "I'll see what I can find.  There are a couple of books that might have something."

"And Durin?" Fili asked, not looking impressed.

“What about Durin?" Dori asked.  "We've stories of him, certainly, but most are vague."

"Anything about how human he is?" Fili asked, expression unwavering and Ori made a sound like he had been hit.

"How did you find out about that?" he asked and Fili slowly turned to look at him.

 Dori frowned ever so slightly, focusing on his brother, "How did _you_ find out about it, Ori?"

"I made Dwalin tell me," Ori said, too quickly as Fili's expression only turned thunderous.

Dori scowled at that, but cleared his expression after a moment, "We're not sure what he was, but, but we've been told that no, he wasn't human."

"Now how the hell did you find out?" Ori demanded. "I... uh..." and he trailed off when he realized the look Fili was still giving him.

"A cop told me," Fili said. "The one who showed up the other night, and said he fell in a ditch."

"This has to do with the other question you asked, doesn't it?" Dori said.

"Yeah," Fili said. "He knows a lot for someone who's supposed to just be a cop. Doesn't much like us, either."

"I'll see what I can find," Dori assured him.

"Now someone explain what the fuck you know about Durin," Fili snapped, his fever hoarse voice breaking halfway through the sentence.

"Only that he wasn't human," Dori answered after a long moment.  "That is genuinely all we know at this point.  We don't know what he was, even."

"Who told you?" Fili pressed.

Dori sighed, leaning against the door frame, "The goblin leader.  And the vampires confirmed it for your uncle."

Fili stared at him, about to open his mouth and say something when his mind caught up. "The _vampires_?" he said. "Thorin asked the... which vampires?"

"The ancient ones I imagine--the ones who might have been around at that time," Dori said.

Fili's eyes narrowed but Ori pushed his shoulder. "You're supposed to be lying down," he admonished.

Dori hesitated for another moment, "I'll be in the library if either of you want anything."

Fili nodded, mouth tight and let Ori push him down. "Thank you," he said, and there was so much anger repressed in his voice it certainly did not sound like thanks.

Dori didn't so much as flinch at the tone, inclining his head as he left the room, leaving the door ajar.

"I'm still angry at you," Fili said quietly when he was gone and Ori only nodded slightly.

-0-

Elrohir hesitated for a moment before entering Arwen's sewing room.  She glanced up from the muslin she was pinning to a dress form and arched an eyebrow at him, "You look like hell."

"We've seen the outer edges, that's not a phrase you can actually use," Elrohir said.

She offered him a sweet smile, "Even if it's true?"

"Especially then."

Arwen shook her head turning back to the form, "What are you doing in here?"

"Just wanted to say hello."

"And it's got nothing to do with you avoiding Elladan?"

"Of course not," he sounded offended.

"Good, then this is the time for me to say I finished that outfit you wanted."  She waved a hand, her pincushion fastened around her wrist, toward the far corner of the room, the clothes hanging there.

His lip curled slightly, "Great.  Go ahead and burn it."

Arwen fell very still before turning to face him, "Are you fucking kidding me?  That is art you moron.  And you two are not going to--for pity's sake."

Tauriel paused in the doorway. "Oh. Are you actually yelling at him for being an idiot?"

"He told me to _burn the suit_ ," Arwen replied, her voice rising slightly.

"I don't want it," Elrohir protested.

"Oh for the love of--Elrohir, I have stitched that entire goddamn thing by hand since you asked me for it.  It is finely tailored, exquisitely made, and accurate to the period you asked.  I'm not burning it!  You can use it for a costume if you have to!" Arwen snapped.

Tauriel opened her mouth to ask what the outfit even was before she decided that was probably not the most relevant point. "Is this about your lover again?"

"No," Elrohir protested at the same moment Arwen snapped "Yes."

Tauriel looked for a moment like she was just going to walk away before she shook her head slightly and focused on Elrohir. "You are such a fucking child."

He stared at her, taken aback, "What?"

"You are a child," she repeated, more slowly. "You have one fight. One fight! And you're moving your stuff out of your room and flailing around like it's over. Grow up."

Elrohir's eyes narrowed, "I'm not sure this is actually your business."

"She's not wrong though," Arwen said, frowning at her muslin pattern and re-pinning it again to get it to hang more the way she wanted the final product to.

“You people are incapable of basic functioning," Tauriel said. "That's sorta my business."

"That's an exaggeration," Elrohir protested.  "And it's not like this is permanent.  Not....not really."

"Really?" she asked. "You told him that?"

"Well I..."

Arwen rolled her eyes, "I'm pretty sure that fight is the first meaningful conversation they've had since I've been turned at least.  So no."

" _That's_ an exaggeration," Elrohir said.

"Oh I'm sure they've talked about plenty of meaningful things," Tauriel said. "Just not fights. As I said. You are such a child. And the world is honestly on the verge of ending and you're letting something petty get in the way of you and your lover? Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What does it matter to you?" Elrohir snapped.

"Because it does," Arwen replied, stabbing a pin into place.

"It matters because it's painful to watch," she said. "You meddle in enough people's business, why do you dislike having that turned around so much?"

"We don--"

"Don't even try to protest that," Arwen warned, earning a dark look.

Elrohir's lip curled at that, "We don't meddle that much."

"Oh don't even go there," Tauriel said.

"Did you have anything further to say?" Elrohir asked, eyebrow arching.

She paused and seemed to really consider. "Stop being an idiot," she settled on with a nod.

"Thank you for that insightful advice," Elrohir drawled, stepping out of the room past her.

Arwen rolled her eyes, shaking her head before turning her attention to Tauriel, "You interested in going out tonight?"

"Where?" she asked, sitting down in a graceful sprawl on the chair at the sewing machine.

"There's a club on south 24th that I haven't been to in months," Arwen said, trimming excess on the muslin pattern before laying it on her fabric.

"I'm surprised," she said. "You haven't seemed to much want to go out at all lately."

She shrugged, "I'm getting antsy.  And, well, there are fewer demons on the street at the moment than there have been."

“I noticed you weren't at the last portal," Tauriel said, still watching her.

"They didn't need me at that one," she answered, her dark hair slipping out of her ponytail to shield her face as she pinned the pattern to the fabric and started cutting it out.

Tauriel hummed. "Really?"

"It seems like you all handled it well enough," Arwen replied, her hand stilling briefly.

"And when the next one opens?"

"I'll be there," she finally murmured.

"You're scared, aren't you?" Tauriel asked, still watching her and not moving.

Arwen looked up to meet Tauriel's eyes, "Aren't you?"

She lifted one shoulder and let it drop. "Maybe. Probably. The idea of the world ending is pretty shocking but I feel like I've not come to absorb it yet. But you, you seem to be hiding."

"I, I hadn't even picked up a sword before Glorfindel started training us.  And then I ended up in the alley where the commander was killed," Arwen said, turning her attention back to her sewing.

"That fight sounded brutal," Tauriel admitted. "But wouldn't you feel better to keep fighting for the world then hiding?" She pushed up to her feet. "I don't mind going out tonight."

Arwen nodded very slightly, straightening to look at Tauriel, "I know there isn't much time for it, but would you help me learn to shoot?  A bow I mean."

Tauriel blinked before nodding. "Sure. I can help you with the basics. Kili and I have been practicing. He's calmer with a bow in his hands."

"Thank you," Arwen said, offering Tauriel a hint of a smile.

"It's not as easy as it looks," she warned.

"I know.  I'm finding a lot of things like that lately."

The corner of Tauriel's mouth twitched up. "Someone told me it gets easier. I would like to meet them again." That startled a laugh out of Arwen. "Yeah. They might not walk out of it the better," Tauriel said, the corner of her mouth twitching. "I'll see you after the sun sets then?"

"After the sun sets," Arwen agreed with a quiet smile.

"Nice looking dress you're working on there," Tauriel added and slid out of the room. Arwen watched her go, still smiling as she turned back to her dress.

-0-

Fili fell asleep sometime in the mid afternoon and woke to see it dark. Even before he got out of bed or looked out the window, he knew Kili was there.

“So you saw I moved,” he said, pushing the window open and sitting on the ground beside it, elbows on the windowsill.  

“Yes,” Kili said, standing outside. “Will you come out?”

“No,” Fili replied, looking back up at him. “And I’m not inviting you in so don’t ask.”

“You used not to need a safe place from me,” Kili said, but he sat down on the other side of the window, eyes glittering in the dark. From the main house, the back of the gardener’s cottage could not be seen and they were more or less alone, separated despite the open window.

“You used not to scare me either,” Fili said, meeting his eyes and Kili looked away.

“Why were you at his house?” Kili asked, voice almost a growl and Fili tried not to think about what Bard said about Kili in the tree outside the bedroom window.

“Because I honestly collapsed on him on the street,” Fili said and Kili’s eyes narrowed. “And he took me home. I was practically unconscious before we got there. It was his choice.”

“He probably wants to use you,” Kili said and Fili twitched a brow up at him.

“You know how ridiculous that sounds? Look, I don’t get it either, but he chose to take care of me and that’s all. I can’t tell you his motivations but I’m not as inclined to let myself be used as you might think.”

“Really?” Kili asked and Fili’s mouth twisted before he shrugged. “And it’s not because he has dark hair and is older then you?”

Fili blinked, still feeling a little muzzy. “Is that a Bofur jab?” Kili just glared at him and Fili sighed. “I don’t want to have this fight,” he said. “Bard did what he did, I don’t get it, that’s all there is to it.”

“He closed the curtains,” Kili said. “All I could do was listen to you.”

Fili sighed, propping his chin on the windowsill. “I’m sorry,” he said, unsure what else to say. For a moment they both stilled, looking at each other through the open window. “Did you know about Durin?” he asked and Kili recoiled, having clearly been expecting another question.

“How did you find out?” he asked. “I’m sure Thorin wouldn’t have told you…”

“He didn’t,” Fili said. “No one in the family actually did, which, considering how many of them know is actually quite remarkable.” He let out an irritated breath. “Which means they all decided not to tell me, and probably made sure everyone knew. How inspiring.”

“Fili,” Kili started, cautious.

“I thought you might have heard, with the elder vampires and everything,” Fili continued.

Kili shifted, so that his knees were underneath him and he pushed his hands as far as they could go on the windowsill, Fili watching him with dark eyes. “They didn’t tell me until Thorin showed up, demanding answers and confirmation. But, it explains me.”

“Explains you?” Fili asked, watching every nervous shift Kili made.

Kili flicked his hair back, wanting to reach out and touch his brother like they always had in the past, casual touches and leaning their shoulders together. “I’m not normal for a vampire,” he said. “Often, they don’t get all their memories back, or most of them, and there’s a longer phase where the blood lust,” and Fili was looking more and more uncomfortable, not quite drawing away yet. “But I was different because of that blood. We don’t lose ourselves to become vampires like humans do, Fili, you wouldn’t either.”

Straightening his spine, Fili drew back, his hands on the edge of the sill and watching Kili.

“I could turn you and we could be together and it wouldn’t be so bad, I could protect you while you changed, make sure you got through it alright until you were ready,” Kili said, and Fili almost stopped breathing.

“Kili,” he said finally, voice shaking. “Kili, please, listen to me.”

“Don’t you want to be with me?” Kili asked, pressing himself closer until the barrier of the house stopped him.

“I,” Fili took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Listen. We… can’t do anything until after this is over, okay?”

Kili’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

“The world is ending, Kee,” Fili said. “Everything else needs to wait until after that. You honestly think Thorin would give a damn about the world ending if you turned me? He would burn it down in rage and spite first. Everything has to wait.”

Kili bared his teeth and Fili swallowed hard. “And after that?”

“And after that we’ll talk,” Fili said, voice shaking and he clearly should have still been in bed, not sprawled against the windowsill, cold December air leeching through the heavy blanket over his shoulders. “We’ll talk then. We’ll figure it out.”

“You’re still unsure,” Kili accused and Fili sighed.

“Yes, Kili, I’m still unsure,” he said quietly.

“But that means it’s not a no, either,” Kili said quietly and Fili closed his eyes before nodding. “I guess that’s something,” Kili said bitterly and suddenly pushed himself to his feet, resting both hands on either side of the window and leaning forward, Fili craning his neck back to account for their shift in heights. “But I swear this. If you fall, if you’re dying and I can reach you, I will turn you. I will not let you die when I can take you with me.”

Fili’s mouth opened and his eyes dropped down, looking at the windowsill for a frantic moment before looking back up and meeting Kili’s eyes. “Alright,” he said hoarsely and Kili pushed back abruptly.

“And we’ll talk,” Kili confirmed. “Afterwards.”

“Yes,” Fili said, his throat entirely dry.

Kili held his eyes for a moment longer and then left, fading into the shadows. Hands shaking, Fili closed the window before he collapsed against the windowsill, head buried in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fili opening up to Bard is partly him realizing things as he says them out loud, but also something VS noticed riding the bus a lot. It's a lot easier to talk about your life story to strangers, who don't understand the ins and outs of the situation and already have a judgement about it. And he's still sick and sorta muzzy and doesn't realize everything he's saying. 
> 
> Beorn meanwhile spends the whole scene with Bard looking at him like people in "the Office" looked at the camera.


	27. You Really Would Make a Great Hero of a Film

Fili sprawled out over the couch, barely paying attention to the news while Ori sat on the floor reading. They were in the main house, but ever since he had arrived home, Fili had not seen his mother, despite spending more and more time in the main house to avoid his claustrophobic room.  

"Why do we have the news on?" Fili asked after a beat, his voice almost back to normal after being gravely and low. It still squeaked out into silence if he raised it too high.

"Because something important could come up," Ori said. "Keeping an eye out for signs is important now."

Dis came to a complete stop in the doorway when she saw her son and Ori already in the room, but after a moment continued in and sat down on a chair opposite the couch, speaking to her son, "I'm glad to see you better."

Fili's eyes flickered over and away, because he was uncertain how to react. "Thanks," he said, managing not to add he was only better in one way.

His mother nodded very slightly. "Any useful news so far?" Dis asked, nodding toward the television.

Fili's mouth twisted and Ori answered. "Not yet. General noise about bad things but nothing really... supernatural so far."

She hummed at that, turning her attention back to Fili and glancing away again, "The man who took you in was the one who showed up at the last portal, wasn't he?"

Shifting on the couch, Fili pulled himself into more of a sitting position, ignoring the look Ori gave him and the way his head swam. "Yeah."

Dis bit back the instinctive admonition to be careful, instead nodding, "Good."

"Really?" he asked, eyes sliding over.

She nodded ever so slightly, "I'm not completely sure what I think of him, but yes."

"What is there to think of him?" Fili asked, wishing he had stayed cooped in the cottage.

"He didn't take a 'no' from your uncle," Dis said, pausing.  "And you knew him before that, or at least had met him."

"I meant," Fili frowned and shook his head. "There's not a lot of reason to think of him. He probably won't, uh, be around."

"Thought he wanted training," Ori said and Fili blinked at him.

"Shit I forgot that."

Dis nodded slightly, "And that would be why.  Also he took you in for days."

"You sound like you don't want him around," Ori remarked, tone mild and Fili stared at him. Dis hummed again, looking back to the television.

"That's not," Fili frowned. "He has kids. He shouldn't be involved." Ori tried very hard not to look at Dis at that comment.

Dis tensed at that, glancing at her son her voice quieting, "How old are they?"

"Three," Fili said. "And, the other two are a little older. Uh. Seven? Maybe?"

She turned her attention back to the tv once more, pursing her lips, "You're right."

"Am I," Fili asked, voice completely flat.

A muscle jumped in Dis' jaw, "You know you are. An untrained person shouldn't be involved to begin with, but if he has children as well..."

"Just think what would happen if his children got drawn into this world," Fili said, voice still flat except for the creeping anger.

"Decisions were made," Dis said, keeping her voice calm.  "They can't be changed now."

If he had been capable, Fili would have shot to his feet and stormed out of the room. Instead he opened his mouth to be cut off by Ori grabbing his knee. "What?"

Ori pointed to the TV, where the mayor of the town was making a speech. "In this time of uncertainty," he was saying over pictures of the destroyed mall and torn up park. "We must stand together. These actions are quite possibly acts of terrorism," and he droned on, Ori watching the news tight lipped.

"There have also been reports near these places and other vandalized areas about a film crew," the mayor continued and Ori and Fili both froze and looked at each other.

Dis' eyebrows rose at that, "Film crew?" she asked over the continued droning of the speech.

"Oh shit," Ori said and there was a picture of the coffee shop suddenly displayed.

"It is possible these groups are connected," the mayor continued. "If anyone has news, they should contact the police with all haste."

Dis turned her head to look at Ori, "Care to explain that cover story?"

"Demons had killed someone at that shop, and by the time they were dead, the whole place was busted up and covered in demon gore and we were walking around carrying its head. We needed some excuse," Ori said.

"And then kept using it," Fili added. "Like when I ran into a cop carrying a sword."

"You really would make a great hero of a film," Ori said after a beat, almost forgetting Dis was there.

"Shut up," Fili returned.

Dis blinked twice at that, managing a faint "ah" in response.  "I can see how that would be a convenient excuse, but it may need to be put aside now from the looks of things."

Thorin came into the room. "Ah. You're seeing the news. Do you know anything about this?"

"We're the film crew," Ori said, holding up a hand. "I'm apparently the director, Fili and some of the vampires are actors. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"So not only are you the film crew you're the one they'll go for as the leader of it?" Dori asked his brother from where he had entered behind Thorin.

"Apparently?" Ori said. "I didn't think they were going to put that all together. Or react like that."

"If the excuse was only used once you might have gotten away with it," Dori mused.

"Well, it just seemed so useful," Ori shrugged. "We were in totally different parts of town too."

"You  missed the most valiant attempt to make it work," Fili muttered. "We were trying to convince Bard the demons were robots set up for the shoot or something."

Dis snorted at that, "I take that to mean it didn't work?"

"Not even remotely," Fili admitted.

"Well no fucking kidding," Ori said. "Oh my god. Weren't you with Elladan and Elrohir that night?"

"Yes," Fili said. "Yes. I was. They were the ones trying to do the convincing."

"One would think a few centuries would give someone an imagination and the ability to know when it's too implausible," Dori murmured.

"I think they have too much imagination and that's the problem," Fili said as Thorin kept frowning at the news report.

Dis let her eyes flicker toward her brother, "We're going to have to think about what happens if they somehow trace the 'film crew' here."

"We'll think of something," Thorin said.

Dis nodded at that, "How long are the predictions saying until the next portal?"

Thorin let out a breath. "Days, he thinks," he said, Erestor having called a short while before.

Dori huffed slightly at that, "He was very exact with the last location, does he have any ideas for that yet?"

"He says he's getting closer," Thorin said, still looking at the news while talking to Dori. "Think it's on the east side of town, near the warehouses."

"Not a lot of civilians out there after dark," Dis said, nodding.  "Good."

Thorin nodded. "We've been lucky they open at night."

"Demonic affinity perhaps?" Dori mused.

"Likely," Thorin agreed, not quite focusing over on Dori.

"Demons don't seem to like sunlight," Ori said. "Most breeds encountered anyway, like in books and stuff."

"Fortunate for us," Dori said.

"Can't say it's made me unhappy," Fili said. Dis bit back her first comment about at least there being something Fili could say that about, instead nodding her agreement. Fili stared at her for a moment, as if catching the start of her thought before looking away. "We'll just have to be more careful about our excuses."

"It was such a nice one while it lasted," Ori sighed.

"Well, we can hope excuses aren't as necessary in the next few days," Dori said.

"Everyone needs to stay low," Thorin said. "There should not be any major problems between now and then, as no demons escaped the portal last time."

"So at least mostly business as usual, then," Dis said, pushing herself out of her chair.  "With more caution when interacting with civilians."

-0-

Elrond tapped on the doorframe of the room Elladan was in, "Do you have some time to spare?"

"Sure," he shrugged, unfolding himself from the couch he was laying on, moodily staring at the wall. "I apparently have a lot of it."

Elrond hummed, not mentioning that that was half the reason he had sought Elladan out, "I'm needing some help with rather a backlog of work."

"You're still trying to keep up with all that, all things considered?" Elladan asked, brushing his hair back from his face.

"Until the world actually ends I intend to continue as though it won't," Elrond replied.  "We'll still need income of some sort.  And I haven't been keeping up on it, hence the backlog," His lips twitched up into a wry smile.

Elladan moved his mouth from side to side for a moment. "Alright," he said finally. "We can work on stock papers and investments."

Elrond nodded once, starting toward his office, "You needn't sound so enthused about it."

"Would you like me to try that again, dryer?" Elladan asked, trailing after him.

Elrond smiled faintly at that, shaking his head, "No, I think you made your point just fine."

"We all make sacrifices for the greater good," Elladan said, almost sing song.

They had reached the office and Elrond handed Elladan a sheaf of papers before responding, "Is that what you're calling it now?"

"What, our continued wealth and ability to not live in houses like the hunters do? Sure, that's the greater good, for us anyway," Elladan shrugged, sitting down and leafing through the papers before he started sorting them.

Elrond moved over to lean against his desk, rather than sitting behind it, and sort through another pile of documents, "Our ability to not live like a good portion of other vampires as well, too."

"Well, that comes from age as well as means," Elladan shrugged.

That earned a slight not of acknowledgement, "Centuries of experience do make for better investment planning."

"Less intense blood lust helps," Elladan said. "More to think about then your next meal."

"And the chance to, usually, temper fledges that are turned," Elrond said after a moment, testing the waters there without actually committing to them.

Elladan tensed however, and his eyes flickered up. "One at a time, right?"

"Usually," Elrond agreed, neutrally, letting his eyes drift up to meet Elladan's.

Elladan was intently focused on the paper's in front of him instead. "Well, we can't all be usual, can we?"

Elrond hummed slightly, skimming over the papers in his hands, "No.  I'm not sure anyone would actually ask that of you either."

"Too far gone already or something?"

"We live in an unusual world," Elrond said, considering before looking back at Elladan.  "And while the two of you could try the patience of a saint, more often than not, unusual fits you both."

"What both?" Elladan asked, voice light.

Elrond offered him an unimpressed look over the top of his papers, "Change it to a singular if you would rather.  But you know very well what I meant." Elladan's mouth twisted and he looked away instead of replying.

Signing a couple of papers, Elrond set most of them back on his desk before speaking again, "It seems a bad time to let one fight separate the two of you."

"I'm not the one who moved everything out and won't talk to the other," Elladan said, but his rage and devastation broke through his facade finally.

"No, you weren't," Elrond agreed, mutedly.  "You've, often, a cooler head on your shoulders.  But if he's refusing to be in your space, and actively avoiding you, it may come down to you to corner him and force the issue."

"Oh yes, because cornering either of us has ever been effective," Elladan said. "Almost as effective as cornering Erestor or asking him to talk about his feelings."

Elrond snorted, "Yes, we've seen how well that goes.  We've also seen how well it goes when he doesn't deal with those feelings, and we've now experienced a glimpse of what happens when the two of you don't.  That fight, whether about that or something else, was a long time in coming."

Elladan opened his mouth and closed it again before he finally settled on what he wanted to say. "And you've decided I'm the one to approach about this?"

Elrond nodded very slightly, "I'm not saying apologize--your points were valid--and I'm not saying forgive him.  I'm saying talk."  He paused, "I know I'm probably the last person who should be telling you that considering my reactions to the two of you over the last few centuries."

"Last few? How about all of them?" Elladan asked, snider then he usually dared.

Elrond offered him a dry glance, "Alright, fair."

"I never have quiet understood what bee got in your bonnet," Elladan said, looking at him again.

"It's been several different bees over the years," Elrond replied, shuffling the papers that remained in his hands into a correct order and setting them on the desk.  "It started as more an irritation with myself, which was unfair of me."

"Yes, that does sound unfair," Elladan said, not giving him any ground.

"Elrohir is my childe, and was at the time a fledge.  And then we suddenly had two fledges," Elrond shook his head slightly.  "After the both of you settled, well, you remind me of me and my own twin, not entirely of course, but enough."

"We weren't twins," Elladan said, the first thing he could grasp. "I know everyone calls us that now, but we weren't."

"How much older were you?" Elrond asked after a moment.

"Almost six years," Elladan said. "We were young enough it still mattered."

Elrond ran his fingers over a paperweight on his desk, "It's hard to remember being that young.  You stood to inherit didn't you, or did you have an elder brother as well?"

"It was just us," he replied. "So yes. I would have." He paused, and almost laughed. "I wonder if they bothered to have another kid. I never thought to look."

"You never did go back, did you?" Elrond asked after another moment.

"No," Elladan shook his head. "Did you?"

Elrond's gaze grew distant as he looked across the office, shaking his head once, "Not in Elros' lifetime.  Nor his son's.  I've kept track of the family every few centuries, but nothing more than that."

"They still around?" Elladan asked, not commenting on the fact that he had never seen those papers.

Elrond dipped his chin in a small nod, "Though harder to track these days than in eons past."

"Can't imagine why," Elladan said, and shook his head. "So what? You were angry we were together and you weren't?"

"No," Elrond shook his head.  "I was angry that I felt jealous, angry that I went through grief long since passed again.  And in more recent years it's just become a habit more than anything to remind you of such things as discretion.  I've long since stopped being upset about this."

"Could have fooled me," Elladan muttered, surly.

Something pained twisted in Elrond's expression before he spoke, "Celebrian would laugh if she could hear me now.  I apologize, Elladan.  I have let my own emotions cloud my judgment regarding you and Elrohir for far too long.  This does not mean that I will stop advocating discretion in the hallways, however."

Elladan didn't respond for a long moment. "Yeah," he said finally, because Celebrian was the open wound between all of them that they rarely talked about. "It sorta went on a long time. Maybe after so long we really have picked up each other's habits."

That earned the barest twitch of Elrond's lips, "Supposedly that's something that happens."

"By god, it's like we actually _are_ related."

Elrond bit back what might have been a chuckle, "There's a thought."  He picked up a pile of papers from the far end of his desk, pausing for a long moment before he spoke again, "She cared for you a lot, you know."

"Yeah," he said quietly. "She at least never had a problem conveying what she felt."

"No, no she didn't," Elrond murmured, gaze focused on the numbers on the paper.  He cleared his throat and seemed to shake himself free of memories after another moment, "Think about what I said earlier, Elladan.  Don't let him push you away because of one fight."

Elladan paused. "It's more the denial on top of the complete rejection," he said finally.

Elrond moved a few books off of a second chair in front of the desk and sat down, "How so?"

"He's acting like I shouldn't be angry, like I should never have been angry," Elladan said after a beat.

"You've every right to your anger," Elrond said, never doubting that Elladan questioned that.  "You need to make sure he understands that."

"But he doesn't!" Elladan snapped. "What am I supposed to do with that?

"Don't let him get away with it," Elrond said, shaking his head slightly.  "Make him listen to you.  He's behaving like a child, you're going to have to be the adult in the situation."

"At five hundred we should both be adults," was Elladan's last, surly protest.

"We both know that's not how that works," Elrond replied.

"No," Elladan sighed.

"You'll figure it out, I'm sure," Elrond said, finishing the paperwork he held in hand.

"Oh, how nice that someone has faith in us," Elladan said with a faint smirk before he bent his head down over the stack of papers, methodically working through them until they were finished.

Elrond rose to file the papers where they needed to be, glancing at Elladan, "Thank you for your help with these."

"Yeah, you're welcome," he said and rose in one fluid motion. "I think I have someone to hunt down now though."

"Good luck," Elrond said as he nodded to Elladan.

"Thanks," Elladan said, not as snide as usual as he slid out of the room and considered his options before heading up the stairs.

-0-

Stretched out on a bed in the spare room he had claimed, door ajar, Elrohir doodled aimlessly in a notebook as he mulled over what Arwen and Tauriel had both said.  He finally closed the notebook and pushed himself to his feet, stepping out of the room, though whether he intended to find Elladan or not he wasn't certain.

"You know," Elladan said from behind him. "After five hundred years sometimes I think five years shouldn't be so damned important anymore."

Elrohir startled, turning to face his brother, "What?"

"You can be a really immature son of a bitch," Elladan said, still advancing.

Resisting the urge to back up a step, Elrohir narrowed his eyes, "Excuse me?"

"You immature," Elladan started and amended the second part of his sentence. "Little bitch. Or, you can be sometimes."

Elrohir bit back his automatic growl at that, "Yeah, I got that bit."

Elladan snapped a hand forward, grabbing the front of Elrohir's shirt and yanking him forward. "I'm allowed my anger," he growled, pressing their bodies together and they fit because some things never changed. "Whenever I have it, whenever I want it, whenever something makes me realize what's that gnat in my ear. I am allowed to be angry and you're allowed your own anger when it comes. But moving out in a fit of pique the one time I yell at you is childish and petty."

Trying to pull away without his shirt tearing was a lost cause which Elrohir recognized, even as his own temper spiked, "Yes, everyone's made that very clear to me. I don't know what you want of me.  I'm not going to apologize for turning you, or for not giving you a choice.  It's five hundred years almost been and gone.  I'll apologize for not thinking on it since then, but I won't apologize for the actions I took or didn't take."

"Then give me the time to be angry about it until I decide it's silly and I’ve had enough," Elladan said, yanking him closer.

Elrohir tensed and he grit his teeth, finally nodding once, "Fine."

"Which is now, by the way," Elladan added, almost conversational except for the way he was staring at Elrohir and still holding him.

"It is?" Elrohir mentally cursed how confused and hopeful he knew he sounded in that moment.

"Next time? Maybe you could not move out of the fucking room," Elladan added, still conversational.

Elrohir flinched ever so slightly at that and nodded again, "Alright."

Rolling his eyes, Elladan slammed their mouths together. Fingers curling in Elladan's shirtfront, Elrohir parted his lips and pressed himself flush against the other.

Elladan pulled away grinning. "Hey, you know what I've heard about fights?"

Elrohir struggled not to match his grin, knowing what Elladan would say even as he replied, "No, what?"

"The makeup sex is apparently great. We've never tried that before. A whole new form of sex that we haven't tested out."

That garnered a laugh, "We should see about testing that then."

"Yes," Elladan agreed and dragged him down the hallway toward their own room.

-0-

Bard considered the door in front of him for a long moment, grimacing slightly and finally knocking on the door. Bombur opened it, staring at him in confusion for a moment. "Oh. The cop?"

Bard nodded once, "Yes.  I was offered training?"

"Oh," he said, looking unsure before he finally nodded and stepped back, not directly inviting Bard inside.

Bard inclined his head slightly and stepped inside past Bombur, "Thank you."

Bombur grunted, not comfortable with someone else inside the house, even though his own family has once been strangers there too. "You're welcome," he mumbled. "Who were you training with then...?"

"I'd spoken with both Thorin and Fili, my hope is the second of those two," Bard replied having no inclination to work in close concert with Thorin.

“Oh," Bombur said and turned to find Dwalin at the bottom of the stairs, his arms crossed as he looked at Bard.

Bard eyed Dwalin warily, his attention shifting as Dori stepped out of the kitchen to see who had come in.  Dori looked Bard over for a moment, "Oh, you've finally come then."

Ori poked his head around his brother. "Ah. I'll get Fili."

"Really?" Dwalin asked and Ori shrugged, already scurrying away.

Bard let his eyes skim around the entrance of the house, the atmosphere oppressive, unwelcoming, and unnerving.  He wondered briefly if this was how it felt to the people who lived there or only to those who came in from the outside.

"I'm curious to see what you can do myself," Dwalin said, still watching him.

"Dwalin," Fili protested, appearing at the door from where he had been sleeping on the couch. It felt less claustrophobic then hiding in his bedroom after being knocked over on his back for so long. "Don't." He turned back around to Bard, and shifted awkwardly. "Hello."

Bard inclined his head to Fili, his lips twitching up almost imperceptibly, "Hi."

"That way," Fili said and pointed to where the basement had long ago been turned into a training room. "Just go that way and ignore everyone."

"I don't like being ignored lad," Dwalin said.

"Especially him," Fili added.

Bard nodded again and headed for the basement, pausing at the top of the stairs to wait for Fili.

Dwalin had grabbed Fili's arm on his way past and they were talking quietly about something, though Fili was looking more and more mutinous. "Then come down and watch if you like," he snapped. "But leave it alone." Watching the exchange silently, Bard turned his conversations with Ori and Fili over in his mind and bit back the urge to say something.

"Come on," Fili said, shuffling him down the stairs. "You know, you probably shouldn't do this."

"You've told me that before," Bard reminded, taking in the converted basement with slightly wary eyes.

Fili coughed a few times into his elbow before looking back at Bard. "And it's still true," he said. "You have kids. You have a job that's dangerous enough."

"I can't protect them if something happens," Bard said after a moment.

Fili let out a long breath and he would argue whether it was from what Bard said or his own healing lungs. "Alright. Fine. Do you have any experience with... anything?"

"I did archery through High School and for a few years after, but it's been a couple of years since I've held a bow." For a long moment Fili just stared at him in silence. Bard shifted back slightly under that look, "Is that not what you meant?"

"No," FIli allowed after silence, shaking himself before he moved over to the wall were weapons were hanging. He lingered for another moment, because there was only one bow there among several crossbows before he finally grabbed it and turned around. "Like this one?"

Bard nodded, "Yes, like that."

Fili hesitated again before finally handing the bow over. "Do you remember most of the form?"

Taking the bow carefully and running his hands over the curves of the weapon, he nodded, "Most of it, yes."

"I," Fili shook his head. "I know a lot about bows but I don't fire one all that well myself. Come on," and he motioned to where there were a couple worn targets down the range. "The bow isn't a bad choice. It's not the best in close quarters but it usually keeps you safer. Besides, with everything else going on, it'll be better to start you on something you already know than try and train you in something totally new." He coughed again.

Bard glanced at him at the cough as he moved into place to aim at the targets, taking an arrow in hand and notching it to the bow, "How are your lungs healing?"

"It's not bad," Fili said. "Just... taking a while." He looked irritated. "Lift your elbow a little bit more," he added.

Correcting his hold and his stance, Bard sighted along the shaft, feeling the draw along the muscles of his shoulders that were long out of practice.  He let the arrow fly, waiting until he heard it hit to lower the bow.

"Better," Fili said. "Stance should be a bit stronger and here," he reached up, putting Bard's arms into place before he processed that he was doing that without the other man's permission.

Bard stilled at that and glanced at Fili, doing his best to ignore both the touch--though he corrected his hold accordingly--and Fili's actual proximity, "Thank you."

Fili hummed and stepped back. "Sorry. Used to doing that."

"It's alright," Bard said, offering him a ghost of a smile before turning his focus back to the target, aiming, and firing again.

"It's Kili's bow," Fili said, because he couldn't handle not saying that anymore.

Bard's hands stuttered on the string at that and he lowered the bow, his gaze moving to where Fili stood, "He was, is, an archer?"

Fili nodded. "The only one of us who ever bothered with that sort of bow, yeah. It's just, that's why, I wasn't thinking. Sorry."

Bard paused for a moment at that and then nodded, leaving alone a portion of what Fili said, "It's alright.  I needed the correction and I've a tendency to over correct."

Fili hesitated before nodding. "The next portal is going to open in a few days," he said quietly. "I'm not sure what you expect to be able to do in that time."

"Not much," Bard admitted, raising the bow again and correcting his stance.  "Certainly not enough.  Do you know yet what day it's going to be?"

"Two nights from tonight," he said, and coughed again.

Bard fired the arrow, frowning slightly at where it hit before glancing at Fili again, "You're not going are you?"

Fili just glared at him. "I don't need another lecture."

"I'm not lecturing," Bard said, dropping the subject and nocking another arrow.  "Do you know where it's supposed to be?"

"Somewhere near the warehouses," he said, frowning and the fingers of his right hand ended up rubbing the back of his left hand to remember what had gone on there the last time he had been.

Bard nodded slightly, trying not to breathe a sigh of relief at that answer.

"I guess we'll be lucky, after the first one opened in a mall,” Fili remarked, not looking at him.

"I hope so.  Luck seems like it's been in shorter supply this year."

Fili stared at him. "Okay," he said, instead of answering, holding a hand out in warning before correcting his stance again. "You'll have to practice, to get used to firing a bow again." Bard nodded his agreement, following Fili's guidance and feeling the draw of the bow through his muscles.

"You're already not bad at it," Fili said, as Dwalin came down the stairs and sat at the bottom. "That's good."

Bard's gaze flicked toward Dwalin and he immediately put the older man out of his mind.  Focusing on the target again, he let fly.  Considering where it landed he nodded ever so slightly, "Still very out of practice though."

"Well, you'll just have to work on that the next few days," Fili said, looking at Dwalin and back at Bard. He paused when there was another sound, Gimli and Ori sitting on the stairs behind Dwalin. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"There's a public range I know of," Bard said, ignoring the group gathering on the stairs though he was well aware of their presence.

"Could take the bow and practice in your back yard too," Fili allowed after a moment, ignoring the way Gimli made a sound at that, though Dwalin and Ori both remained dead silent.

Bard glanced at Fili, "Are you sure?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

Briefly considering pressing the issue, Bard simply nodded and turned his attention back to the task at hand, "Thank you."

Fili nodded, hand coming out to shift his elbow up. "We could try teaching you some basics with a blade but it might... not do much good now."

Bard shook his head ever so slightly at that, "I think this is going to be my best bet for weaponry here.  There's not much time in regards to learning a blade."

"Alright," and Fili gave him a fleeting smile. "That's probably a good thing, or I'd have to turn you over to Dwalin over there."

Releasing the arrow, Bard snorted slightly at that, "I think I'll stick with the bow then."

"Too bad," Dwalin said, finally speaking.

"Oh?" Bard asked, drawing the bow again without looking at Dwalin and knowing he was giving the other man more of an opening than perhaps he should.

"Training is a good way to test the mettle of a person," Dwalin said. "Find out who they are."

Bard fired again, finally glancing at Dwalin and noticing Bofur had settled up near the top of the stairs at some point, "Seems rather a limited way to find that out."

Dwalin shrugged. "Not saying it's the only way," and he smiled, showing off his teeth. "But it's one way."

The smile Bard offered him in return was thin-lipped and didn't go anywhere close to genuine, "I see."  He turned back to the targets, checking his stance as he drew again.

"Elbow down," Fili said, watching him. "You can ignore Dwalin."

"No, you can't," Dwalin protested.

"You had to sit through Beorn," Bard said, glancing at Fili as he lowered his elbow and took aim again.

"Does that mean my family has fair shot at you or something?" Fili asked.

"Who's Beorn?" Dwalin asked.

"That means that your family's got a few more comments and then I'll ignore them," Bard answered Fili, drawing another arrow and making sure his stance was correct and his elbow was lowered.

Fili actually smiled at that and Dwalin blinked, looking over his shoulder at Ori who shrugged slightly.

Bard's lips twitched up at the corners as he released the arrow, it hit closer to the mark than any of the others he had fired so far.

-0-

Galadriel swept around the room, her long blonde hair falling down her back as she trailed her fingers along the back of the furniture. "Erestor says it will open within two nights," she said casually.

Celeborn nodded slightly, setting the book he had been reading aside, most of his attention having been on Galadriel to begin with, "Yes, down at the warehouses."

"You look stressed, love," she said, one brow quirked up.

"You say that as though we aren't all at least a little stressed right now, dearest," he replied.

"You are not bearing it very gracefully," she said, leaning her hands against the back of a chair.

He paused at that, "It has been rather a long time since the world was ending last."

"We were different then," she agreed. "There were more of us left, more allies to call upon. The world was new and still full of corners for the strange to hide."

Celeborn rose, crossing to her side, "And yet still there are corners wherein lie creatures who would sooner ally with the ones attempting to break through."

"The goblins," she said, watching him.

He nodded once, "Yes, the goblins."

"And who knows what else," she said, tilting her head.

"It's been too long since we've paid enough attention to the things remaining in the deep shadows," Celeborn murmured.

"We thought we were dark enough," she said. "Powerful enough they did not matter. How foolish." She looked away from him for a moment, her blonde hair swinging over her shoulder.

"Foolish, yes.  We've let our attention and knowledge lapse.  When we make it through this we should see what we can do to fill in some of our gaps."

"When," Galadriel smiled. "Ah, still the optimist."

Celeborn's lips curled up slightly, "I do try, my love."

She smiled, reaching a hand out to trail along his cheek. "You do try," she agreed. "And it is appreciated. You are being too hard on them though."

He tilted his head into the touch, "Which them?"

"All of them," she said. "But especially Kili."

He grimaced slightly, knowing she was right, "I know. I don't mean to be as hard as I am on them."

"But you are," she said, hand coming to rest on the hollow of his throat.

Celeborn reached up to brush a lock of her hair behind her ear, "I've been letting my own worries and prejudices blind me.  I'll do better from here on."

"It is not me you answer to," she said. "Though I'm glad to hear it."

His lips curled up into a faint smile, "I'll answer to them, don't worry."

"You must remember, somewhere, what it was like to be so young and passionate."

"Passionate, yes," he replied.  "Young?  Not so much."

Her smile was small and secretive between them. "Oh?"

"Oh yes," he answered, attempting to keep a straight face.  "There's a fallacy in the thought that youth and passion are synonymous.  I've not had the first for a very long time, but the second I still feel."

"And that will aid you well," she said and flicked a hand against his chest. "If you keep your temper."

Celeborn caught her hand lightly, twining his fingers with hers, "I shall strive to do so."

"And is that all you strive to do?" she asked, teasing becoming more evident now her point was made.

He raised her hand, brushing a barely there kiss over her knuckles, "Oh there are many things I strive for, beloved."

"Truly?" she asked, eyes bright and laughing.

He offered her another smile, "There always have been."

"Then you'll have to take a moment out of your busy schedule worrying about everything to remind me."

"If my lady would grant me her time, I'm sure I can carve time away from my worry now."

"What else have I done since arriving?" she asked, holding both her hands out.

Taking her hands and drawing her nearer, Celeborn answered, "Reminded me that worrying has never gotten me anywhere and shed light on the foolishness I've been enacting."

"So an effective day's work?"

"Very," he agreed, brushing a hand over her cheek.

-0-

Bilbo sat on his couch, a steaming cup of tea on his wood burl table ignored.  He slowly turned the gold ring he'd found over between his thumb and first finger.  A normal looking ring but clearly infused with some sort of magic.  It had, after all, turned him invisible.

It seemed harmless enough, even with his background in magic that tricked the unwary.  He paused before sliding the ring on his finger, blinking twice at the change of perspective.  Pulling it off again he tilted his head at it and then pocketed it with a sigh, taking a drink of his tea finally and grimacing at the lukewarm temperature. He had not realized how long he sat there, fiddling and staring at such a simple looking ring.

A knock thudded on the door, interrupting his thoughts. Bilbo startled, getting to his feet and crossing to the door.  He hesitated and then opened it, "Thorin?"

"Hello," he said, holding a bundle in his arms. "Are you very busy?"

"No, no not at all," Bilbo stepped back, motioning Thorin inside.

Thorin stepped inside, looking around as he always did when he entered Bilbo's apartment and saw all the green leafy plants. "Th--It is good to see you."

Bilbo offered him a hint of a smile at that correction, "You too."

"I never realized how often I was inclined to thank people before I met you," Thorin sighed.

"Most people don't," Bilbo said.  "Can I get you anything?"

"I'm alright," Thorin said, putting the package in his hand down on the table and reaching out for Bilbo.

Bilbo took Thorin's hand and easily moved nearer, "And you're doing alright?"

"Keeping in mind how relative my answer can only be," Thorin chuckled, one hand sliding around Bilbo's cheek and drawing him closer into a soft kiss.

Bilbo rose up on tiptoe, fingers curling on the lapels of Thorin's coat as he returned the kiss, "As long as you're relatively alright."

"Relatively," he said. "Worried. Concerned. But those are not new things either. It is good that Fili is home again though."

"Is he recovering well enough?" Bilbo asked, tracing his fingers over Thorin's temple.

"As well as I expect he should be," Thorin said.  "I admit, we generally have good immune systems. I have rarely fallen sick and I don't think he has since he was a child. But he seems to be recovering well. Not well enough to be at the portal though."

Bilbo nodded very slightly, "I'm glad to hear that he's improving.  And you're all prepared for the next portal?"

"Yes," Thorin said. "We handled the last one quite well. As long as we're prepared and capable of working together, I think it won't be difficult. I am more worried without Fili there."

"He'll be alright for a night," Bilbo said with perhaps more confidence than he felt.

"There is that," Thorin said. "But he can also control Kili better than anyone, and he's good in a fight."

"You're all good in a fight," Bilbo pointed out, not addressing the issue of Kili.

"Yes," Thorin agreed. He had not realized how often he relied on Fili to be there during battle until Fili was not going to be there.

"Come sit down," Bilbo said, drawing Thorin over to the couch with him. "How many more portals are you expecting?"

"I believe that this is the last one before the biggest," he said. "The vampire said something about three portals needed to build up the energy to open the one large enough for Smaug."

"And the last one's supposed to be close on the heels of this one?"

“Closely," Thorin agreed and then reached over. "Here," he said, handing Bilbo the package he had brought with him. "I brought you this."

Bilbo blinked at the bundle, taking it almost hesitantly, "A... gift?"

"You don't like to accept them?" Thorin asked.

That earned a faint smile, "Yes and no.  I can, it's not like thanks."

"But you are hesitant?" Thorin pressed.

"Gifts are...complicated," Bilbo settled for after a moment.  "I like getting them, and from you I can accept them.  The troublesome ones are the ones that come with implicit thanks attached to them."  He waved a hand, trying to find a better way to explain, "That’s really the best way I can put it."

Thorin nodded, serious. "I do not want to push something if it would harm you," he said. "But I would like to give this to you. As a friend, as someone I care for very much."

Bilbo smiled, "I appreciate it, deeply."  He carefully unwrapped the package, and instinctively drew his hand back from the chainmail within before realizing that it couldn't have been iron.  Running a finger over the fine links he frowned slightly, "What is this?  I haven't seen it's like."

"Mithril," Thorin replied, a hand lingering to the links. "It is armor you can wear without ill effect."

"This is--" he broke off, still tracing over the metal, amazed at its coolness and the feel of it beneath his fingers, "You said you had so little left."

"Yes," Thorin agreed. "But it does not fit any of us. Dori believes that Durin, whatever he was, was smaller than most humans, like Fae appear to be, based on yourself. When this was created, well, it was for a smaller build. My mother, was quite tall," he said with a wry smile, as he stood at six feet. "But even Fili will not fit into it."

"It is a precious gift," Bilbo said, meeting Thorin's eyes and offering him a faint smile.

"Yes," Thorin agreed. "For a person quite precious to me."

Bilbo leaned in and kissed Thorin at that, drawing back after a moment.

Throin smiled faintly, running his hands down Bilbo's back. "You must be careful."

"I promise," Bilbo murmured.  "You as well.  I know how dangerous what you do is, but please, be as careful as you can."

"I will be," Thorin said, nodding seriously.

"Good," Bilbo said, carefully setting the mithril armor aside as he curled closer to Thorin.

"Before I leave, you must try it on," Thorin said. "To be sure it fits. It looks like it should."

Bilbo nodded slightly, "You don't have to leave right off do you?"

"No," Thorin smiled, kissing him softly before pulling back again. "But. Before I forgot."

Bilbo pulled back and, shrugging out of the sweater he wore around the apartment, pulled the mithril shirt on carefully.

"Ah," Thorin said, brushing his shoulders to make sure it laid right. "Yes. A little big but that's better than the other option."

Bilbo looked down at the glittering links, "It's lighter than I expected."

"One of the benefits of Mithril," Thorin agreed, voice warm as he looked at Bilbo.

Pausing for another moment, Bilbo finally pulled off the Mithril mail and set it aside again. Thorin's hands slid around his waist, warmer now that the sweater was not between them. "I am glad."

Bilbo let his hands move to rest on Thorin's, "I don't have the words to articulate what this means to me, Thorin.  Appreciate isn't strong enough."  He looked up to meet Thorin's eyes again, "Gratitude isn't quite right either.  I value what this means, I just...I don't know how to say it."

"I understand," Thorin said softly. "That is enough."

"How long can you stay?" Bilbo asked quietly, letting his head rest against Thorin's shoulder.

"Tonight," Thorin said. "As long or as little as you want."

"As long as you can," came the soft answer.

"Then I'll stay," Thorin said, a low rumble and he leaned down enough to kiss Bilbo again.


	28. You Don't Really Want to Rush Hell, Do You?

Bilbo grimaced, blinking himself awake to the morning sunlight coming in through a crack in his curtains to land on his face.  He glanced to where Thorin lay next to him and then quietly eased himself out of the bed, not really expecting to make it without waking the other. Thorin snapped awake when he pulled away, turning over. "The dawn?" he rumbled.

Bilbo nodded slightly, glancing at the clock that sat by the bed, "A little past.  I forgot to pull the curtains all the way last night.

Thorin laughed. "You told me once you always woke up at dawn."

Bilbo smiled at that, "Yes, well, apparently I sleep just a bit later if there's someone else in my bed."

Thorin gave him a lazy smile, reaching out to draw Bilbo back against his chest when his phone started ringing from the pile of his clothes next to the bed. The fae grumbled slightly at that sound, even as he shifted away from Thorin enough to let him reach for the phone.

Swearing, Thorin reached a hand down enough to find the phone. "What?" he asked, barely looking at the number.

"I was wrong," Erestor said on the other line and Thorin sat up abruptly.

"What? Wrong about what?"

"The portal isn't tomorrow it's tonight," Erestor said, and his voice was stretched, like he was barely holding himself together. "Be there tonight."

"When?" Thorin asked, body tense and everything was focused on what the vampire was saying on the other end of the line.

"It should be a few hours after sunset," Erestor said. "The portals are getting later. The first one opened at dusk, the next later and this one more so. The final one," and Thorin could hear the shuffle of papers. "Should be at midnight." He muttered something that sounded like he was calling himself a fool under his breath.

Bilbo pulled himself into a sitting position and put a hand on Thorin's shoulder, speaking quietly enough that he wouldn't speak over the person on the other end of the call, "Thorin?"

Thorin glanced over at him. "The same place?" he asked and Erestor made a sound.

"Yes, that I think," and there was a pause and more shuffling. "Is correct. I'll call tonight with more specifics."

"We'll be there," Thorin said.

Bilbo stayed quiet until Thorin had hung up before speaking again, "Something's changed with the portal, hasn't it?"

"Tonight," Thorin said. "A few hours after sunset." He turned to look at Bilbo. "Don't go out tonight, and be sure to have the shirt at hand if you think--for a second--that you have to."

Bilbo nodded, "You have my word."

The corners of Thorin's mouth quirked up. "I thought you might argue with me."

"Would you prefer I argue with you?" Bilbo asked, eyebrows arching.

"No," Thorin said. "But you were willing to fight in the alley. I was concerned you might try and insist."

"How likely are you to let me fight at this portal with you?" Bilbo asked.

"If I have a say in it," Thorin allowed. "Not at all. We do not need the aid, as we handled the last one. There were no problems, and our … alliance with the vampires made that possible. Together, we are capable of handling this.”

Bilbo's mouth twisted slightly at that, "Then be careful.  Because I need to see you alive after it."

Thorin ducked his head, smiling. "I'll certainly try."

"Good," Bilbo said with a nod.  "Do you want breakfast?"

Thorin looked at him like Bilbo was a constant source of confusion before nodding. "Yes," he said, reaching out both hands to cup Bilbo's face.

Bilbo leaned in and kissed him gently, "Any preferences?"

"No," Thorin said, kissing him quickly again before drawing back.

"I'll go see what I can whip up then," Bilbo said with a smile, finally getting out of bed and pulling on a bathrobe, a multi-colored thing made up of patches.  Thorin watched him with a faint smile before rising and dressing as well, focusing on breakfast and not the suppressed panic he had heard in the vampire's voice.

-0-

"You're not going out," Thorin said, stepping into the foyer and looking at Fili sitting on the stairs.

"I know," Fili said, coughing into his elbow.

Thorin looked significantly toward the mithril sword, which was leaning against the wall next to Fili. "I know," Fili repeated. "I'm still too sick, I'd only be a hindrance in a fight and my reactions are slow. I'm not going."

Dis hummed skeptically at that, her eyes darting to the sword and then back to where she was checking over her own weapons, "Good."

Fili did not roll his eyes as Gimli came and sat down beside him, also commanded to stay home as the youngest in the house. "So I have separation anxiety from my sword right now. You can't blame me."

"At least you're taking some precautions," Dis murmured.

"It's also a really nice sword," Gimli sighed and Thorin nodded, glancing at Bifur who stood in the living room doorway.

"Be careful tonight," he said, tense still from that morning's news. "Nothing should go wrong but..."

"Be careful?" Fili offered.

Bofur nodded, carefully stepping around Fili and Gimli, "Yeah, that."

Fili pushed himself to his feet, standing next to Bofur. "Hey, you're the one who needs to be far more careful then me."

Bofur's lips quirked up on the left, "I will be."

Fili watched as Thorin and several of the others left, Ori lingering another moment before stepping through the door too. "Hey," he said again, quietly, tugging on Bofur's shirt. "I got into the habit of caring about you. So don't fuck it up."

Bofur paused at that, clasping a hand around Fili's wrist for a moment before releasing him again, "I'll be careful.  I promise.  You keep yourself safe tonight, too."

"I'm not leaving the house to fight demons," Fili said and hesitated before throwing his arms around Bofur in a quick hug.

Bofur startled and then returned the hug, "Take care.  I'll be back."

"Good," Fili said and stepped back, running a hand over his hair.

Nodding to Fili once more, Bofur slipped out of the house after the others.

For a while Fili and Gimli sat on the stairs together before Fili rose and went back upstairs. Gimli opened his mouth, about to ask him what he was doing before shutting it again.

When Fili came back down the stairs, he had shaved off completely the beard he had neatly trimmed and cared for the last four years, and was wearing his leather coat. Gimli looked up from where he had picked up the mithril sword and was admiring the balance of it. "Whoa."

"That's my sword," Fili remarked.

"You... but..." Gimli frowned. "Why are you dressed to go out?"

"Because I am going out," Fili said, taking the sword back from Gimli and buckling it around his waist.

"Hey," Gimli said. "Why are you going out? You're not supposed to go out alone, and you're not supposed to be fighting tonight."

"All the demons and scary creatures are focused at the portal," Fili replied. "I'm not going there so it should be safe."

Gimli gave him a disbelieving look. "And you shaved because...?"

Shrugging, Fili waved at Bifur on his way out the door, closing it with a definitive click.

"Has he ever even been out at night since he got sick?" Gimli asked the close door and Bifur was kind enough to shake his head. “Fuck,” Gimli said and Bifur nodded. “Are we going…?” Gimli started and Bifur shook his head. “Oh. Okay.”

-0-

Fili knocked on the door of Bard's house and stepped back, frowning at lack of lights everywhere except what he vaguely thought was the living room and wishing he hadn't given in to the impulse of a different look after so long.

The light in the hall turned on and the security chain slid into place before the door opened a crack, the kids' babysitter, Janey, looked out, "Yeah?"

"Is," Fili frowned. "Is Bard here?"

Having been listening in the doorway to the living room, Tilda came rushing down the hallway at hearing his voice. "Fee!"

Janey reached down, her hand resting on Tilda's head, the door still only open the few inches, "No, he's out for the evening. Was it important or should I just tell him you stopped by?"

 "No, it," Fili hesitated. "It's important."

The girl nodded after a moment, "Okay.  I can give you his number, or, well, it probably won't hurt.  He's at the Carleton in the Thrush Ballroom tonight.  He's not due back before midnight."

“What?" Fili blinked. "The... why?"

"Annual Policeman's Ball," Janey answered, finally giving in and lifting Tilda up onto her hip though she hadn't opened the door any further.

"Oh," Fili said, not quite shaking his head. "Okay, no, that makes sense." He turned to go and Tilda kicked out.

"Can't leave without a hug!" she insisted and Fili half turned back, Bain and Sigrid having drifted down the hallway too.

"He needs to go find your dad, Tilda," Janey admonished.  "And I'm not supposed to open the door that far."

"But it's Fee," she protested.

"I'll be back," Fili said. "Don't worry."

"Tonight?" she demanded, pouting and Fili paused.

"Er, maybe not tonight," he said. "But soon, alright? When I'm all better."

"You've been eating good things?" she pressed and he laughed, covering his mouth when he realized what he was doing.

"Yes," he assured her serious face. "I've been eating good foods to get better soon. I'll see you soon, alright?"

Finally, she nodded firmly. "But you better come back."

“And I’ll give you a hug then,” he promised, serious.

Janey shook her head slightly, looking to Fili, "Good night."  She closed the door, and the deadbolt clicked into place.

For a moment, Fili stared at the door before he turned back around and looped off into the growing dusk, heading out from the residential area to downtown. The walk was longer then he expected, but even with his body weaker than usual, he had long been used to ranging all over town on his own feet.

When he reached the hotel in question though, he stopped short, shifting from foot to foot. Bard had believed him when he said the portal would open on the next night, and was probably enjoying an evening with his co workers, without the realization the portal was going to open within the hour. Now that he stood there, Fili didn't much want to break that illusion.

Shaking his head at himself, he took the stairs leading up to the fancy facade two at a time, faltering again in the lobby as he craned his neck back to look at the gilt walls and crystal chandelier.

A bellhop approached him and paused for the briefest moment of confusion at how out of place Fili looked before putting on a smile, "Can we help you find somewhere, sir?"

"Thrush ballroom?" he offered, too hesitant.

The bellhop paused for another moment, as though cataloguing Fili's appearance if asked for a statement later, and then pointed, "Down that hall to the end, turn left and it's the third on the right.  Large sign over the door." Fili gave him a dark look at the close scrutiny before turning on his heel and stalking away.

Reaching the door indicated, Fili hesitated because the doors were pushed open and through them he could see a ballroom filled with tables and a buffet table along one side, and a stage where an area was set to give speeches later and he realized for the first time he would be walking into a room full of people, not just finding Bard.

Sucking in a deep breath and squaring his shoulders, he stepped through the door anyway. Nothing prepared him for the way people near the door stopped talking to stare at him, an obvious intruder.

"You looking for someone?" a man near the door asked, dressed in a sharp three piece suit and with grey hair. "Or you lost?"

Bard's attention was drawn away from the conversation he was in the middle of with one of the rookies at the abrupt silence by the door.  His focus honing in over there, he quickly excused himself and went to see what had caused it, noticing more than a few of the other officers doing the same.  He stepped around the last of the cops and came to a complete stop, his eyes widening.  His first thought was that Fili had shaved which he forcefully shoved down to deal with later, "Fili?  He's with me, Sonya."

"I’m not _with_ you I'm here to talk to you," Fili said, applying too much force too the word. "Oh, hello Beorn," he added, the taller man obvious the instant he came to a stop nearby.

Bard blinked twice at that emphasis already able to imagine the gossip that would go around the squad room while that was picked over--if the others waited that long.  He nodded, "Right."  Grabbing his dress coat from where it hung on the rack by the door, he pulled it on, heading for the veranda, "Come on, let's talk."

The whispers were already starting and Fili shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat as he followed Bard.

"Sorry," one of the rookies said. "Is that a _sword_?"

Bard glanced at Fili, having seen the news and knowing that the fallback excuse wouldn't work and then decided it was best at the moment to just ignore the rookie as he pushed open the door to the veranda and stepped out.  He closed the door firmly behind Fili and took a few steps away from the door.

"Shit," Fili said. "I did not think that through."

"What did have you searching me out tonight?" Bard asked.

"We were wrong," Fili said. "The portal's opening tonight, not tomorrow, and," he hesitated, finally focusing on Bard and seeming to stop for a moment. "Uh. I should have just taken the phone number and called."

Bard was in the process of buttoning the fitted grey wool coat over his tuxedo but he paused, " _Tonight_?"

Fili nodded. "It's not that far off," he said, almost defensive. "I just thought... with everything... you should know."

Bard nodded at that, "Thank you."

"You don't... normally dress like that?" Fili asked after a beat.

"In a tux?"  Bard laughed, shaking his head, "No, it's a once a year sort of thing."

"I'm sorry I interrupted your once in a year," and he trailed off, looking at the window were a pack of the cops were standing and watching them, Beorn with his hands folded over his chest. "... Thing."

"Oh don't be.  Really, you've been to one of these things you've been to most of them."

"That I wouldn't know," Fili said, too distracted to realize he had said it. "Why are they all staring?"

“You showed up at a policeman's ball in leather and jeans."  Bard answered after another glance at the officers still watching them, "Most people show up in suits or gowns.  And they haven't had any new gossip in a while."

“I don't have anything besides jeans and leather," Fili said, almost defensive.

"I'm not saying it's a bad look," Bard said.  "I'm just saying it's one of the reasons they're staring."

Fili's shoulders tensed, because he had saved and skimped money for a long time to afford even one jacket that would hold up night after night. The offhand compliment didn't quite do enough to assuage his wounded pride at the staring. "Right."

Bard opened his mouth to say something else and then closed it, frowning slightly, "Did you walk all the way here?"

"Yes," Fili said, covering a quiet cough with his elbow. "Do you think we have cars or something?" He dropped his elbow, looking at Bard. "I just... wanted you to know. I should have just called and not interrupted your... thing."

"No, that's fine.  Really, I don't mind the interruption," Bard said, pausing. "Do you want a ride back?"

"No," Fili shook his head. "It's fine." He started to cough again, and what started as a few coughs turned into a fit as he bent over.

"Let me get you home.  You've already put strain on your lungs coming here to warn me," Bard said, reaching out to rub small circles on Fili's upper back.

"I," Fili started. "Don't want to interrupt your thing,” he repeated, unable to actually say what he meant and so clinging to the same words.

Beorn came out on the veranda, shutting the door firmly behind him. "Are you done yet? They're about to go into vapors in there."

"The portal's opening tonight," Bard told Beorn as way of answer before turning back to Fili. "At least let me see you to the bus.  You're not walking all the way back across town."

"The," Beorn frowned. "You expect us to hang around here while you go to the portal?"

"I'm not going," Fili said, narrowing his eyes at Beorn. "I would already be there if I was."

"But you do need to get back home, don't you?" Bard asked, glancing toward the edge of the veranda where the light from the ballroom didn't reach.

"Yeah," Fili said and he rubbed his shoulder with one hand.

"The cold air can't be good for your lungs," Beorn remarked.

"Don't start," Fili muttered. "All the coughing has been making my rib hurt."

"It wouldn't take that long for me to drive you back," Bard offered again.  "It's the least I could do after you came all this way."

"Why are your ribs hurting?" Beorn asked and Fili shrugged.

"Broke a couple, it's fine. And I just came to warn you, I'll take the bus back."

"A couple of broken ribs doesn't sound fine," Bard said before he thought about it.

"They healed?" Fili offered.

"Right, I'm going to do distract people," Beorn decided after a beat. "I think the current theory is he came with information about that film crew fiasco."

"Well, they aren't wrong,” Fili said wryly after a beat.

Bard nodded slightly, offering Beorn a grateful look before turning back to Fili, "Will you at least let me see you onto the bus?"

"Alright," Fili agreed finally, looking at the veranda for a moment as if considering how possible it would be to go over the edge rather then walk through the room again.

"Come on, won't take a minute to get through the ballroom," Bard said.

"Alright," Fili repeated, more strained. "It's fine. I guess. Are all cops such fucking gossip mongers?"

"Most of them," Bard admitted.

"Great," he said. "And they think I'm what, some petty criminal come to play snitch for you?"

Bard winced at that, "Probably."

"This, stuff like this, it's why we've avoided cops," Fili muttered before swinging the door open and storming back through the room.

Bard sighed, following him through the room and into the hotel, "What scenario would you prefer they think?"

"Don't know," Fili said, taking the steps down to the foyer two at a time, moving quickly even with his short frame. "Not that."

"There's only a limited number that they would come up with at this point," Bard said, keeping pace with Fili.

"A limited number?" Fili came to a stop. "What does that mean?"

"I mean that it's rare, if ever, that someone without an invitation shows up at these things," Bard said.

"I’m so sorry I didn't just call," Fili said, shaking his head and feeling better when he was back out in the cool air and out of the hotel. "God. How can someone stand places like that?"

Bard glanced at him at that, "The hotel?  A certain level of pretentiousness I guess."

"A certain level?" Fili snorted. "You only get to say that because they wanted you there." He ran a hand over his chin, missing the scrape of his beard and already regretting his impulsive decision. "I guess I see the appeal. But not the actual place. Fuck." He turned to walk away again.

"Okay, a lot of pretention then," Bard said, moving to catch up with Fili.  "God knows I wouldn't get much past the door on a normal day."

"You would," Fili said. "You're a cop. It's not glamorous but it's legitimate." He shook his head at himself when his phone started to ring. He startled, so unused to hearing the sound.

"In uniform maybe," Bard answered, but shook his head and fell silent so Fili could take the call. Fili's eyes flickered from between him to the ground as he dug his phone out of his back jean pocket.

-0-

Book open in front of him, Gimli had his chin propped up in one hand as he listlessly turned the pages with his other. "Not like there's anything useful in here," he said to the wall because there was no one else to listen to him. Bifur, he thought, was down in the kitchen.

Flipping another page he frowned, because he was trying to find anything about Durin of his line that he could.

He paused, lingering over a page. "And the warriors who were immortal, wait what?" Frowning at the page, turning it over several times, he almost didn't notice when the house started to shake.

"What," he started, pushing himself to his feet and closing the book, holding it against his chest. "An earthquake...?"

Before he could decide what to do, Bifur came slamming through the door. "Hey--!" Gimli started before Bifur picked up him and the book and threw him through the second story window.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Gimli managed, having curled up and rolled when he landed. The book landed a couple yards away from him when Bifur burst through the window too. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded, scrambling to his feet and Bifur bounded up, grabbing Gimli by the back of his shirt and dragging him away.

The ground around them continued to shake as Bifur ran, Gimli stumbling behind him.

"Bifur!" Gimli protested, having snagged the book on his way past. "What are you doing?" Bifur only shook his head and slammed open the door to Thorin's car as part of their house collapsed.

"Holy shit," Gimli gasped as more of the house started to disappear, red light flaring up through the ruins of the earth as it collapsed. Bifur yelled, a sound without words and Gimli focused enough to get into Thorin's car as Bifur threw it into reverse and went shrieking down the street and away from the house as the first demon came out of the collapsing ruins.

Bifur spun the wheel around and almost floored the gas. Gimli didn't bother with a seatbelt, turning in the seat instead to see more demons streaming out of the ruin. He fumbled his phone out, trying to hit Thorin's number and instead he almost went through the window shield when Bifur swerved and hit the breaks.

"Where are the hunters?" Gandalf thundered, standing in the middle of the road, a long length of wood in one hand and his sword drawn in the other.

Gimli opened the door, half stepping out. "They went to the docks!" he said, Gandalf staring at him. "Erestor said the portal was to open there!"

"Damnation and foolery!" Gandalf yelled, one demon with long legs having chased down the car. Jumping over it, the demon met Gandalf's sword before it landed and he twirled, throwing it off his sword in one smooth stroke. "Get them back here!"

"You drive, I'll call," Gimli said, meeting Bifur's eyes and climbing back in the car, bothering with the seatbelt this time as Bifur hurled around Gandalf and kept going, Gandalf jumping and somehow landing gracefully on the back of the car. "Thorin, Thorin, where is, there!" Gimli yelled in triumph and hit the call button, Bifur swerving again to avoid another demon who had cut through the yard to try and cut them off.

-0-

The hunters and vampires had all been at the expected site of the portal since shortly after sundown on the off-chance that it opened early.  Glorfindel had given up on sitting still after the first twenty minutes or so and was stalking around the area like a caged lion.

Leaning against a wall, almost but not quite touching his brother, Elrohir tipped his head to one side, "We're sure the timing was right?"

"Erestor said so," Elladan said, watching Erestor pacing the area in the opposite circulation from Glorfindel, looking at his book and notes and then back down to the ground.

"It is getting late," Thorin said, arms crossed over his chest and looking tenser by the moment.

"Patience," Galadriel said.

"Yeah, you don't really want to rush hell, do you?" Tauriel asked.

"No rushing desired here," Elrohir agreed, watching Erestor.

Glorfindel changed direction the next time he passed Erestor, falling into step with the other vampire, but not asking anything that he was thinking.

Dis let her gaze sweep over the vampires, taking in the fact that one more had come than the last time even as she drew her attention away from the dark-haired female vampire as Elrond spoke, "Then there's no need to be questioning the time."

Thorin looked over as his phone started ringing. Frowning, he pulled it out, trying to remember when he had set that ringtone. "Hello?"

"You need to get back here!" Gimli yelled. "The portal didn't open there--at least I hope to fuck there aren't two portals--it opened here! It ate our house!"

Thorin stopped breathing. "What?"

"Bifur and I got out the window when it started shaking, and that Gandalf or whatever is here but the portal opened here! Demons are in the streets just get back here!"

"Fili?" Thorin managed, noticing Gimli hadn't mentioned him. Erestor, vampire hearing having picked up the conversation was already moving.

"He already went out tonight," Gimli said. "I don't know where, he had his sword."

"Be careful," Thorin said and clicked the phone off, looking around. "The portal isn't here, it's already opened at our house. Move."

"We can get there on foot," Kili said, jogging alongside Thorin's long strides. "Vampires, I mean, we can run fast."

Erestor had already proved that, bolting away across the street and jumping on to the fire escape of a nearby building, Glorfindel barley a pace behind.

"How will you reach there?" Galadriel asked, sweeping by.

Thorin looked up and down the street. "We'll get a car, go," he commanded, Dwalin already having sheathed his axes and looking for a car.

"How will you get a car?" Kili stopped enough to frown at his uncle.

"Hotwire it," Thorin replied, and Dwalin waved him over.

"This will get us all," Dwalin said, and Kili gaped between Dwalin standing next to the mini-van and Thorin.

"You can hotwire cars?" he asked and Thorin barely spared him a glance before he wrenched the door open, already bending to the task.

Dis yanked open the sliding side door of the van, motioning to the rest of the hunters as most of the vampires bolted toward the portal, "In.  Now!"

Bombur piled in first, followed quickly by Dori and Balin, Gloin and Oin sliding in next. Ori hesitated, looking at Galadriel. "The portal, closing it..."

"We will get there as soon as we can," Galadriel said. "One of us will close it."

"Ori, come on," Dori called as Thorin got the engine to start.

“Be careful," Galadriel said and floating away, barely seeming to move as she ran.

"Right," Ori said, slamming the sliding door of the car.

"Are you driving or am I?" Dwalin asked and Thorin climbed over his lap, taking the passenger seat as Dwalin put the van in gear.

"They all got out safely?" Dis confirmed, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the two front seats.

"Gimli and Bifur did," he said, holding his phone up and his fingers felt too big for the small buttons as he tried to find Fili's number. They almost never used their phones to call each other and he had no idea what the number was itself. "Fili was already gone."

"Already gone?" Dis stared at her brother in shock.  "You mean he went out tonight?"

"According to Gimli," Thorin confirmed, finding the number. Listening to the rings he almost threw up until Fili answered the phone.

"Yeah?" Fili asked on the other end of the line, still looking at Bard somewhat warily.

"Fili!" Thorin yelled, unable to contain himself.

"Uncle?" Fili asked, confused.

"Where are you?" Thorin demanded.

Bard looked at Fili, eyebrows drawing together, "Everything alright?"

Fili frowned at him. "I'm at the house," he started to lie.

"Don't lie!" Thorin snapped. "You can't be at the house so where are you?"

"I," Fili opened his mouth and closed it again, still staring at Bard. "I'm uptown," he admitted finally.

"Stay there!" Thorin thundered, loudly enough that Bard could hear him through the phone. "No matter what, don't come home."

"Why not?" Fili asked, voice wavering. "Is that, are you in a car?"

"We were wrong," Thorin said, and Fili stared wide eyed at Bard because there was nothing else for him to stare at. "The portal wasn't at the warehouses, it was at our house!"

"Our... house?" Fili managed weakly.

Bard paled, "They're all the way across town from there."

"Do not come home," Thorin snapped again and the line went dead, Fili still staring at Bard.

Bard's eyes were wide as he returned Fili's stare, "The house?  They...it was at the house?"

For another second Fili stared at him and then he turned on his heel and started running. Bard took off after him, nearly skidding in his dress shoes, "Fili! You shouldn't--"

Fili stopped long enough to whirl around. "Shouldn't what?"

"You're in no state for the portal, what are y--"  He stopped as he processed the distance and paled, "The kids."

"They're not there," Fili said. "The last two times we were there, we stopped the demons before they got very far. They're all the way across town! The entire neighborhood--"

Bard couldn’t breathe, "My kids aren't far from there."

"So, no, I'm not going back to the house," Fili said and turned on his heel again.

Bard caught FIli's arm, "Beorn's car's right there, come on.  I've got a spare for him."

"You sure he wants you stealing his car?" Fili asked, already changing direction almost effortlessly.

"It's for the kids, he'll understand," Bard answered, unlocking the car and yanking it open.

Fili shot him a quick look before almost throwing himself into the passenger side. "Go, fast." Bard nodded, peeling out of the parking spot and speeding toward his house.

Fili fumbled for a minute with his phone, frowning at the complete silence. "It sounded like they were in a car, but... god I hope they get there soon."

"Full speed, depending on the vehicle, and assuming you ignore all lights and signs--and that that doesn't cause an accident--you can get across town in surprisingly little time.  They’ll be there," Bard answered.

"You're not even assuming they're going to bother with lights or signs," Fili said, almost laughing. Shoving his phone into his pocket, he clenched a hand around his sword instead, trying not to hold his breath as they zoomed down the street.

"You think I am?"  Bard asked, reaching over and turning on the dashboard light.

"Fuck no," Fili said and they fell into tense silence, Fili not wanting to distract Bard from driving. However, even with that, he didn’t see the demon before the car slammed into it with only blocks still to go until they reached Bard’s house.

"Fuck," Fili managed, the demon crawling up the wind shield and thrusting its arm through. Fumbling the seat belt, he kicked the car door open and rolled out, drawing his sword the instant he had enough room.

"Damnit," Bard swore, bailing out the other side as another demon put its hand through the hood.

Neatly beheading the first demon, Fili turned around in time to see the second one jump up and down on the car hood, distracted for a moment. "Come on," he said, grabbing Bard's arm and running.

Bard felt his feet slip, but quickly recovered himself, keeping up with Fili as well as he could. Keeping their hands clasped, Fili ran, trying to ignore the screams from the neighborhood. "We just," he started as a demon jumped at them from the side. Pushing Bard away, Fili turned in time to be shoved to the ground, falling on his phone.

Bard stumbled, whirling around and reaching for where he carried his sidearm normally--realizing that he had left it in his gun safe that night.  He yanked up a broken fence piece from where the demons had crashed through and slammed it into the demon's side hoping to get Fili a moment of time to get his sword into play.

Fili kicked the demon, rolling out from underneath him as the demon whirled on Bard. Swinging the sword up around he whacked the side of the demon, drawing it's attention back to him.

"Yeah, focus on me," he snarled.

Bard glanced down the street, trying to keep track of any other approaching demons.

“How bad is it?" Fili asked, ducking the next blow and getting slashed along his back in return for stabbing the demon through the heart and twisting the sword.

"We need to get somewhere more defensible.  It's bad," Bard said, stepping out of the way as the demon fell.

"Right," Fili said, barely noticing the fact his phone had broken in half. "Come on," he added again. "We're almost there, aren't we?" He stopped, barely having taken a step before he bowed over, coughing.

Bard glanced down the street, nodding, "Just around that corner there."

Fili nodded, trying to catch his breath before another demon noticed them. "Come on," he said, fumbling for Bard's arm and stumbling before he got his feet back under himself.

Bard kept pace with him, rounding the corner and nearly stumbling as he saw the front door of his house caved in, "Oh god."

Ignoring his own body's protests, Fili sprinted for the door, jumping over the broken wood and following the sound of screaming to the kitchen. Janey had managed to get the kids behind her, but all she had to stave off two demons was the frying pan she'd been using when the doors were broken down.

Tilda stood behind her, screaming as loud as her three year old lungs could manage as Fili threw himself at the demon currently standing closest to the kids. With the sword pressed against the demon's throat, Fili jumped backward, taking the demon's head off before it fully registered he was there.

Bard skidded into the kitchen, narrowly ducking past the second demon as Sigrid screamed and pulled Tilda back a bit further.  Dodging past, while leaving Fili just enough room to swing the sword, he reached Janey's side, snatching up a kitchen knife on his way past from the block that was placed well out of the kids' reach.

"Do you have a basement?" Fili asked, pivoting to face the demon as another one jumped through the window, letting out a high pitched screeching sound. Flipping his sword to loosen his wrist, Fili looked between the two demons, trying desperately not to cough again.

Bard nodded, "This way."  He shoved Janey and the kids ahead of him into the adjoining laundry room, past the corpse of the first demon Fili had killed, "Downstairs, quick now."  Janey shoved open the basement door, shaking hard enough she was barely able to pick Tilda up and get down the stairs.

Still looking between the two demons, Fili started to back away as one lunged for him, knocking down the chandelier in the dining room. Fili stumbled backward, slashing out with the sword as the other demon came up on his other side. Kicking that demon in the face, he slit the other's stomach open and started to run after the others while the other demon recovered. He reached the top of the stairs in time for the demon to drag its claws along his face. Falling into the wall, he bounced back off it and whirled on one heel to behead the demon, the head landing near Bain's feet, the boy staring at him with huge eyes.

"Down the stairs," Fili said, shoving Bain back and slamming the door behind him.

Bard caught Bain, pulling him down the stairs and out of the line of the door even as he looked around the partially finished basement for something to brace on the stairs and against the door. Not seeing anything immediately, Fili flung the door open and darted out, dragging the nearest piece of furniture with him. "Bard," he called. "Get this through the door and we'll brace it from behind."

Bard darted up the stairs, grabbing the furniture and yanking it through, struggling for a moment before it sprang loose and started to slide down. Fili darted back through the door, closing it more softly then he wanted to to not draw attention to themselves. He helped Bard shove the cabinet back against the door. Once it was in place, he braced his elbow against the cabinet, leaning his head against the wood and trying to breath.

Bard leaned back heavily against the cabinet, glancing at Fili and trying to get a read on how badly he was injured, "Your cheek--"

"D-Da?" Sigrid asked from where she was clinging to Janey's leg.

Fili waved him down the stairs, as if trying to say it was fine.

"That is _not_ a prop!" Bain managed, standing in the middle of the basement.

Bard hesitated, but nodded and headed down the stairs, taking Tilda from Janey. Sigrid kept her hand hooked around Janey's leg, "No, not a prop, but he's, he's sure a hero."

Fiil's head whipped around too fast to stare at him, and he broke down coughing, arm braced against the wall and his forehead pressed against it, trying to stifle the sound in his elbow as best he could.

Janey looked at Bard, her hands shaking and she held out her hands for Tilda.  He hesitated and then finally handed her over before going up the stairs to support Fili, murmuring, "Come on, let's get you down the stairs."

Shaking with the force of his coughs, Fili shook his head at first, before he let Bard help him down the stairs.

"We," Bain stopped. "We don't have any water down here."

"You're still sick!" Tilda accused.

Bard glanced up the stairs, Sigrid having let go of Janey to catch hold of her father again.  Janey looked up the stairs, swallowing hard, "What, what were those things?"

"Demons," Fili said, when he finally stopped coughing though his voice was raspy and he was still leaning against Bard's other side.

"D-demons?" Janey stammered.

Bard guided Fili over to sit down out of direct line from the door, "Come on over here, guys."

"I'm fine," Fili protested, except he was still shaking.

"You're not steady yet," Bard said.

Sigrid curled up next to her father, looking past him at Fili, "How, how did you know what to do?"

"Give him a minute!" Tilda protested, Fili collapsing against the wall in a heap of limbs. She crawled on his knees, but did not press against his chest as he struggled to breath.

"No, seriously, what _are_ you?" Bain protested and Fili's eyes flashed in the dim light as he looked up.

"Bain..." Bard started, but Sigrid shook her head.

"No, Da, it's a good question.  Normal people don't know what to do when, when demons happen."

"Normally I hunt vampires," Fili said and Tilda inched closer since he was finally talking and breathing at the same time.

"Vampires are real too?" Janey managed, her voice quiet.

"It might be good at this point to assume everything is real," Fili said blankly.

"Like fairies?" Sigrid asked.

Fili paused before nodding. "Yeah ,there are fae. I'm not sure about all fairies but..." He shook his head. "I don't know that much about them."

"Why are you only normally a vampire hunter?" Bain asked.

Fili stopped breathing again. "Because," he started and had to try again. "Because they're working with us right now."

"Because of the demons?" Sigrid confirmed.

"Yes, Sigrid," Bard answered, running a hand over her hair, glancing at Fili and how comfortable Tilda seemed with her perch.

"Aren't they evil?" Bain asked and Fili couldn't stop himself from looking over at Bard.

"It's complicated," he said finally and he was shaking for a different reason now. Tilda slid forward until she could curl against his chest and he gasped when she pressed too hard against his rib and chest which ached. "Don't," he said. "There's blood..."

"Tilda, careful," Bard said, instinctively leaning forward as he remembered what Fili had said earlier about his ribs.

"It's fine," Fili said. "I mean, I'm fine. But you--"

"it's alright," she replied, quite cheerfully.

"Have you always been a vampire hunter?" Sigrid asked.

Fili glanced around the room, the three children staring intently at him and Janey having settled firmly into shocked silence, though she was clearly listening as if hoping he would contradict himself and prove the whole night false. "Yes," he said. "My family... for generations."

Janey let out a small noise that was probably best described as a whimper but didn't say anything.  Sigrid frowned, "Seems awful dangerous."

When Fili buried his face in his hands, Tilda tried to pat his shoulder. "Yes," he said. "It rather is."

"Your coat has a rip," Tilda said, frowning.

"Yes," he said. "One of them got my shoulder, it'll be alright."

Bard frowned, knowing they didn't have anything to treat any injuries in the basement, "Did it hit skin?"

Fili shrugged slightly. "Yes? It's not deep."

Bard glanced at his watch, "Demons are mostly nocturnal right?"

Fili nodded. "We stay down here until dawn," he said. "The demons are going to go to ground then, try and find somewhere dark for the most part. The streets... they'll be passable at least."

"And if they, if they go to ground in the house?" Janey asked after a moment.

"I'll kill them in the morning," Fili shrugged and Tilda was staring at him with wide eyes. "A few is not the same as... what the streets looked like."

"And where will we go?" Bain demanded.

Bard hesitated at that, realizing he had no answer for him and his kids much less for Janey.  He glanced at her and she curled a bit further in on herself, "I'll try and get hold of my folks.  If I can't, I'll, I'll act like it's a natural disaster.  They always told me to call my grandparents and try to get to their place if that happened.  They live out of town."

Fili paled, fishing around in his pocket for his phone and only coming out with two snapped pieces. "Fuck," he managed. "We'll... uh... I'll try and find my family or what..." his voice broke and Tilda pressed closer. "What's left of them by morning. They'll... whatever happens... it will be safe, with them. I think."

Bard reached for his own phone but didn’t find it before remembering that he had set it down on the table at the dinner shortly before Fili arrived. 

Sigrid curled close to her father, almost in his lap, "Why wouldn't it be?  They know how to fight the demons."

" _Because_ they will be fighting the demons," Fili said. "The front line is not a safe place to be." He looked at his watch again before a thought made his head snap back up. "Bard," he said, voice not steady. "What day is it?"

Bard glanced at his watch, double checking the time, "December twenty-first.  First day of winter."

"That's the longest night of the year," Fili said.

"Yes it is," Bard agreed. Fili stared at him in abject terror before he forced his mouth to close.

Bard caught the look, trying to find some way to reassure the other, "Janey, do you have your phone on you?"

She shook her head, "I dropped it in the living room."

Fili pressed a hand over his mouth, Tilda staring up at him with wide eyes. "Everyone," he said finally, thickly. "Should try and sleep."

Bard started to nod his agreement but Janey spoke first, staring at Fili in disbelief, "You think we can _sleep_?"

"Try," Fili said after a beat. "Just," he jumped as there was a crashing sound upstairs. "Try and sleep," he said, more quietly.

Janey looked toward the stairs nervously and looked like sleep was the last thing on her mind, but she glanced at Fili's sword and then nodded, "If you say so."

"I'll keep watch," Fili said quietly, Tilda still pressed against his chest.

"You need to sleep too," she protested and he ran a shaky hand over her hair.

"I'll try," he said, not quite a lie.

"We'll trade watch," Bard said.  "I'll wake you if anything happens," he told Fili, "Though something tells me you'd wake by that point."

Fili's smile was strained. "Yes," he agreed, smoothing a hand over Tilda's hair again. "Go to sleep," he murmured, and she was already most of the way there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else think Thorin might have been a little too sure things were going to work out for everyone?
> 
> Bifur stayed home because he has unpredictable reactions around vampires and someone needed to guard the house just in case.


	29. Smells like Hurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huuuuge shout out to Medda this chapter, because while both VS and Medda write each chapter, who posts which story is split between the two of us. This is VS' story to post, but Medda made a big effort to get stuff edited and pulled together to make that happen a lot faster then it would have otherwise (VS has been having a bad few weeks)

Erestor ran into the wall of demons first. Skidding to a stop on the rooftop of a suburban house, he looked around at where waves of demons were running through the streets, breaking open houses and sleepy neighborhood stores. "There," he pointed, Glorfindel alighting beside him. In the distance, red light could be seen, spewing open the earth. "I guess we don't need the hunters to tell us where they live anymore."

"Considering I don't see them living there now, we might just," Glorfindel said, unsheathing his sword.  "That's a lot further than we'll be able to make with any speed with that lot between us and it."

"Keep to the roofs as much as possible," Erestor said. "If we stopped to kill them, we'll never make it, they'll just keep getting replaced." He winced through, at the wail that went up as the demons broke into another house, barely to their left. "Go."

Glorfindel snarled slightly but nodded, yanking his focus away from what was happening on the ground and leading the way in the direction of the hell portal, slicing off the hand of a demon that had nearly made it onto the roofs as well, sending it crashing back down on its fellows.

The buildings were spaced further apart now, the further into suburbia they went, each house having its own nice lawn and fence and eventually they could not make the jump between roofs anymore. "The goal is the portal," Erestor reminded, while they were still on the roof. "Nothing else. You know that?" He turned his head, finally spotting the twins and Galadriel behind them.

Glorfindel bit back the answer that his goal was getting Erestor there and back still by his side, but he nodded, "I know.  I can do this, Erestor."

Erestor hummed, grabbing the front of Glorfindel's shirt and dragging him roughly forward to slam their mouths together.

Glorfindel's fingers curled briefly on Erestor's shoulder before he drew back from the kiss, "I'll be watching your back, but don't you _dare_ get dusted tonight."

"I've managed to avoid that for a very long time you know," Erestor said. "Have some faith," and he dropped off the rooftop, easily enough breaking the neck of the first demon to notice him before he ran down the street.

Biting back a curse, Glorfindel dropped down, bringing his sword up to behead a demon that had turned toward the motion as he rushed to keep up with Erestor.

Erestor jumped over the demons he could, ignoring the cuts and scrapes he earned that way, only bothering with the ones he could not dodge. When one particularly large one stopped in his path he slammed his hand against its chest, burning its heart out with fire before continuing.

Glorfindel kept pace behind Erestor, eviscerating and beheading the demons that he could deal with in the time it took him to pass them, and dodging those he couldn't.  He snarled when three of them came at him at once, briefly cutting him off from the other vampire, the use of both sword and a long knife he carried made quick work of them, but it had taken longer than he wished.

Erestor did not slow for him, finally coming to a stop in front of the portal, hair wild around his face in the wind that blew stale out of hell. "Glorfindel!" he yelled, looking around as Thranduil and Elrond reached the edge of the portal at the same moment, from slightly different directions.

Glorfindel caught up to him, a small demon held tight by its scruff.  Ignoring the scratches he was gaining down his arm, Glorfindel yanked a knife against its throat, "Right here."

"Good," Erestor said, "Someone kill me a strong enough demon!"

Glorfindel looked at Elrond, the dark-haired vampire nodding at the look and the two of them moved to grab a large demon, struggling with it between the two of them, Elrond glancing toward Thranduil, "A hand?"

"If you insist," he said, flicking his sword to rebalance it after a demon had knocked it almost all the way out of his hands. Kicking the demon back, he lunged forward, stabbing the sword upward through the demon's throat.

Gathering its life energy in his hands, Erestor pulled them up, muttering the spell to close the portal quickly, his accent for spell casting deeper than Galadriel's.

Glorfindel whirled away from the falling body of the demon to slice through another one that was reaching for Erestor.  A swift glance toward Elrond and Thranduil indicated that neither was over their heads any further than he was and he turned his full attention back to the creatures before him, feeling the magic Erestor was working thrum along his spine in ways other magics didn't.

With a final flick of his wrist, Erestor closed down the portal, the earth turning from a red gaping hole to stone and dirt again. Stumbling, he almost fell over, a demon coming up behind him.

Eyes darting toward Erestor as he finished a downward sweep of his sword that nearly cleft a smaller demon in two, Glorfindel dodged around yet another demon, aiming for the one behind the other vampire, "Erestor!"

Erestor kicked the demon, scrambling around to find a place to rebalance himself. "It's really too bad closing the portal doesn't suck in all the nearby demons as well."

Glorfindel beheaded the demon as it stumbled back and nodded very slightly, "They're spreading out, though, now that the portal's closed." He growled, slicing off a clawed hand that got too close, "Not that it matters considering their numbers at this point."

"And where they're spreading too," Erestor pointed out, Galadriel alighting beside him, blood on her cheek and her sword already covered in dark blood.

"The hunters were stopped on the road," she said. "They are fighting. Gandalf, I see to the North of here."

"We've got far too many hours to sunrise, yet," Celeborn said from where he'd landed lightly next to Galadriel.

"More time to deal with as many of them as we can," Glorfindel replied.

"We will never be able to take them all down," Erestor replied. "But I suppose mopping up should start here."

"If you're all done talking," Thranduil remarked, neatly stabbing a demon and throwing the corpse at another one. "Perhaps we could actually move on to the mopping up part."

Slicing across a demon's throat, and bringing his sword up to block the next creature's claws, Elrond nodded, "The others?"

"Holding their own in the streets and yards," Celeborn answered, bringing his pair of long knives into play to block the blow of a demon that had come up from the side.

-0-

Kili had run until he found Gimli and Bifur, the car having finally been beaten down with the engine torn out. They fought side by side, Gandalf struggling to reach them again as Kili landed on a demon's shoulders, almost ripping the head off completely.

"Oh," Gimli managed. "Nice to see you."

Legolas came down just behind Kili, his movements nowhere near as sure as Kili's, but enough to do the trick as he slammed his blade home in a demon's chest, pulling it out and glancing at Gimli, "You're alive."

"Good to see you too," Gimli said, voice a little faint before he brought the crossbow that had been stashed in the trunk of the car up, shooting over Legolas' shoulder. "Really, really good to see you too."

Bifur shook his sword at the two vampires, before turning back around and stabbing a demon in the face, Tauriel landing in a roll behind them, slashing two demon's throats in one long sweep.

Ducking under a demon's arm, Legolas swept up, his blade sliding in through its side and into its heart before he pulled back and turned to slit another's throat. Gimli drifted toward Legolas, pressing their backs together. "How are things?" he asked.

"Bad," Tauriel replied before Legolas could.

"Where is Fili?" Kili yelled, jumping over another demon and whirling back around, sword flashing in the light from the streetlamps.

"Better that I can be sure you're still breathing," Legolas answered, ignoring Tauriel's contribution as he severed a demon's neck.

"Fili!" Kili repeated. "Where is he?"

"He left before the portal opened," Gimli said.

"You mean he's out alone at night?" Kili yelled, almost getting his head pulled off when he stopped moving completely. He ducked down at the last second, twisting around and back up, cutting off the demon's arm before coming up under its defenses and cutting its chest open.

Legolas eyed Kili, but ducked another demon, cutting its head off before wrenching back again.

Kili swore, vicious and angry, cutting another demon in half at the waist. "Do you know where he went?"

"No!" Gimli yelled back, still fighting next to Legolas. "Somewhere."

"If he was still in the neighborhood," Kili said and started looking around, as if just by searching he would find Fili coming around the corner.

"In the time it's been he could be all the way across town," Legolas pointed out, his next strike landing in a demon's eye before he spun to eviscerate the next one.

"Or dead somewhere!" Kili yelled.

"We'll never survive to find out if you don't stop being distracted," Tauriel said, drawing her bow now that there was enough space through the press of demons, shooting the one coming up behind Kili.

Legolas swore as he missed the aim of his next strike and the demon's claws caught his upper arm.  He recovered quickly, slamming his blade home in its heart but he stumbled back, glancing at the wound.

"You'll be fine," Tauriel said, scoping out the wound. "Come on, fall back against the car." She looked around. "Or is there any other place to make a stand?"

Legolas glanced over his shoulder past the car, "There's a few sheds and things, but there's not really anywhere else.  Not like we can do much with the houses."

"We need somewhere to regroup," she said, Gimli nodding in agreement.

"You have any ideas?  Because we can't make it very far if these demons don't let up.  Beyond trying houses to see if their occupants are...."  Legolas broke off, shaking his head.

"Houses it is," Tauriel said, leading the way, Gimli looking between Legolas and her before following, Bifur sticking close to Gimli and chattering angrily at the vampires.

-0-

"Can't you go any faster?" Thorin demanded as Dwalin went barreling through another red light.

"No," he said, hands tight on the steering wheel as the first demon appeared on the road, Dwalin hit the gas to run it over, though it shook the whole van violently and the next demon jumped on the engine, shrieking.

Dis swore, catching herself against the back of front passenger seat as the demon's claws went through the windshield toward Dwalin and the van rocked from the force of another demon crashing against the side.

"Everybody out!" Thorin said, barreling out the side door and rolling, already prepared to go at the demon on the window shield.

Ducking under a demon's arm as she left the van, Dis slammed her blade home under its arm, pulling back and clearing space until the others could get out as well.  Dori kept close enough to Ori to defend them both, even as he spared the briefest of glances toward Thorin.

"We're still almost a mile away," Dwalin yelled. "There are demons everywhere!"

"We fight to the house," Thorin said. "Try to group up with the vampires and hope to hell they've already closed the portal by then.”

"Then why are we going there?" Ori asked.

"Because if, somehow, they haven't closed the portal yet," Bofur said, "They'll be overrun."

"And if they have," Thorin added, stabbing another demon and pivoting on one foot to connect to the next one. "Then we need to meet up and regroup. It's better to fight together."

"Better hope they're heading our way as well," Dori said, lashing out and catching a demon across the throat.

Thorin paused, going back for a moment to the van, opening the back and riffling until he found several flares buried beneath someone's Christmas shopping. While he was looking, Dwalin watched his back, a demon scrapping his arm and he rewarded it by chopping its arm off.

Dis ducked past a demon's claws, slamming her knife home and ripping it upward, narrowly avoiding the creature's teeth as she jumped back.  She whirled at a sound behind her just in time to see another of them fall, the pickaxe Bofur had taken to wielding buried in its skull.

"We go now," Thorin said, tucking the flares into his belt, sword out as he strode forward toward where their house once stood.

-0-

Red eyes glinting and teeth bared in a rictus grin, Yanzeg watched the demons spread through their hunt.  The ripple when the portal closed had swept past, but there was no question that the demons who had made it through were enough to cause damage that would not be forgotten for a long time--not that there would be many to remember once Smaug arrived.  Scenting the air, Yanzeg's expression shifted into one of glee and he grabbed the nearest minor demon, pulling it in close, "We've a hunt to complete.  Can you smell them?"

"Humans everywhere," the demon answered after a moment.

Yanzeg shook his head, tossing the other away, "No.  Vampires.  And those that slew the Defiler."  He started in the direction he had scented them from, calling minor demons to him as he went.

The demons fell in behind him, a more obvious pack then the others who were running wildly toward any prey they could reach, screams still going up periodically as the demons got further, some families piling into cars and trying to drive away.

Yanzeg lead his group to the roof of a house, the front door already knocked in and corpses in the living room.

"How sad," Tauriel remarked, looking around the room and the light which had been pulled from the ceiling and swung now, flickering shadows over the room. "But calm for the moment."

"For the moment," Gimli said, hanging near the door.

"At least the demons aren't lingering yet," Legolas said, glancing at a clock--the glass face of it shattered though it still kept time.

Leaning forward and listening carefully, Yanzeg grinned again before motioning the demons with him off the roof, sending one down right in front of the door to test the response of the small group inside.

"You had to say it," Gimli said, tensing at the moment one landed in front of the door, Bifur coming out of the shadows toward the kitchen like a vengeful shadow to skewer the demon with a knife he had picked up there.

"Well," Gandalf said, from where he had stepped out into the back porch. "We may have a problem."

Legolas startled, whirling toward where Gandalf was, "You mean besides the horde of demons that made it through?"

"Yes, in this case I rather mean the commander on the roof," Gandalf said, and Kili paled because he remembered the last commander so casually throwing his brother around by the neck. "Luckily for us, he is a lesser one."

"They have lesser commanders?" Gimli asked, sounding faint as Tauriel unslung her bow from her shoulder, already notching an arrow in one smooth motion.

Yanzeg drew his lips back into a snarl at Gandalf's words, dropping down out of Tauriel's clear shots, even as he called for more demons he had dominion over, "More than a match for you, old one."

Gandalf drew his long sword in one sweeping motion, Tauriel whirling around though her first arrow bounced off the bone armor Yanzeg was wearing because she let it off too soon. "That, I doubt," Gandalf said, remarkably calm as he cut one of the demons in half.

Looking briefly at the arrow like one might an annoying fly, Yanzeg looked at Gandalf, snarling again, "Meddler.  You can't stop what's happening, and you know it don't you?"

Legolas joined Gimli by the front door as more demons appeared from that direction.

"Stop is such a definitive word," Gandalf said with a shrug, Bifur supporting Gimli as Kili turned to guard the door to the porch.

Yazneg unslung the axe he carried across his back, more a short misshapen halberd than anything, "You plan to let us keep coming?  And stand against us with what?  These half-humans?"

"Certainly," Gandalf said, parrying the first blow. "And why not?"

Kili slit the throat of the first demon to try and get through the sliding glass door.

"You're very few against the hordes of Hell." Yazneg growled, his gaze flicking toward where Kili was, ordering a few more demons in that direction.  Better to take out those he knew had fought the previous commander than risk them staying.  They'd start with this one and hunt the others through the night.

Kili yelped as the demons descended on him, Tauriel pivoting and sweeping across the room.

Yazneg feinted with his axe before sweeping it low, "You should know better than to meddle in this affair."

"That's the horrible thing," Gandalf said. "I have never learned not to meddle. Your master knows that well."

Yanzeg bared his teeth in his death's head grin again, "Wonder how permanent it would be if I took your head."

"You'd be surprised," Gandalf said as a demon knocked Kili to the ground, Tauriel jumping on its back to try and pull him away.

"Long enough for the Destroyer I bet," Yazneg said, even as he backed a handful of steps further into the yard.

Legolas glanced over his shoulder and, seeing that Bifur had a solid guard on the front door he hesitated, caught between staying by Gimli and aiding Tauriel and Kili.  He slammed his blade home in a demon's throat with a snarl, holding his ground and hoping he hadn't made a mistake.

Gimli turned in time to see Gandalf sweep a blow across Yanzeg's front, not quite connecting past the bone armor and for Kili to flip back up, getting his sword up and around in time. "Shit," Gimli yelled, Tauriel's bow having fallen next to where she and Kili were fighting.

Yazneg growled, his return attack missing it's mark though had he had a few inches more reach the axe would have imbedded itself in Gandalf's stomach.

Legolas ducked a demon's arm, stabbing the creature in the chest as he came up.  He glanced toward Gimli and pushed aside the relief he felt at the fact that the cry had not come due to any sort of injury.

"Bifur," Gimli hissed, and the other hunter waved him backward, and Gimli took one look at Legolas before bolting across the room. "Why are they all coming after you?" he demanded, punching his sword through a demon's stomach.

"Fuck if I know!" Kili yelped, ducking another blow aimed at his neck.

Legolas was at Gimli's side in an instant, slicing the arm off a demon coming up on their left before stabbing it through the eye.

"Kili!" Gandalf yelled, toward the center of the room still. "Come."

"What?" Kili asked, Tauriel shooting the demon that tried to get him in his distraction.

"Just go," Legolas said, glancing at Kili and having to duck quickly as a demon lunged. Kili bolted to the center of the room, eyes going up to the light fixture barely holding on above as the flow of demons slowed for a moment.

Yazneg tossed his axe between his claws before gripping it solidly in his stronger hand again, "Making this one easier on me, Meddler? I've still got a few to hunt."

"A few what?" Kili asked, standing with his back to Gandalf and still looking at the light.

"Vampires, humans, not quite humans," Yazneg answered, showing his teeth.  "Pity to start with a vampire.  Nothing to toss to the hunting party when I've killed you.  They like things that crunch."

"Why me instead of the others?" Kili asked, hooking an arm through Gandalf's and dragging him back slightly.

Yazneg stalked forward, tilting his head back and making a show of scenting the air, "You're the only one as smells like Azog's death."

"Oh," Kili blinked. "You can _smell_ that?"

"Some of us can," the demon's lips curled into a silent snarl.  "Smells like hurt."

Kili finally got Gandalf where he wanted them, Yazneg having stalked across the room after them. "Tauriel!" he yelled, pointing up and for a moment she frowned at him in confusion before sweeping her bow up and firing an arrow at the swaying light, cutting the last electrical cord holding it up directly above the demon.

The fixture crashed down on Yazneg's head before he could move, driving him to the ground and sending his axe skittering out of his hand.  He still stirred, but only barely and the demons he had called to him were already starting to scatter for easier prey.

"To hell with you," Kili snarled, stalking forward and Gandalf took another step back as Kili drove the sword through the demon's throat, before he thought better of it and completely chopped the head off. The last of the demons at the house fled rather than continue the fight.

Tauriel hesitated before slinging her bow back over her shoulder. "That was a commander?"

"He was a lot smaller then the last one," Kili said, standing back, Bifur still at the front door.

"We should go," Gimli said, feeling queasy at all the blood splattered over the wall paper covered walls of such a suburban house. "See if we can find the others at the portal."

Legolas nodded his agreement with Gimli, looking to Gandalf, "What are the chances more than one commander came through?"

"Not high," Gandalf said.

They left the house, heading for the portal for the portal, having to fend off demons as they went. But fortunately the focus on Kili seemed to have dissipated with Yazneg's death.

"Great," Kili muttered as they walked, slowed to adjust for Gimli and Bifur's pace. "I can't believe he could smell that. I wonder if any of the others can," and his stomach swooped again in fear to think of Fili.

"It seems a pretty specific thing to be able to smell," Legolas said.

"Demons," Kili snarled. "I'm starting to like them even less."

"I didn't think that was possible," Legolas said as they reached the cross-street to where the hunters' house had stood.

Kili froze before running forward, stopping in shock at the edge of the crater where he had grown up. "There you are," Erestor remarked, cleaning his sword off in the lull from the demons spreading out. Corpses were strewn around the vampires.

Elrohir glanced at the group that just arrived, "Any sight of the hunters yet?"

Legolas shook his head, "Not yet."

Glorfindel tied his hair back again from where it had slipped loose in the fight, looking over the state of Kili and Legolas most closely, "Looks like you lot ran into more than your own share of trouble."

"Commander," Kili spat back. "Two for two does that make me? Because fuck that noise."

Glorfindel's eyebrows rose sharply at that, "A commander?  Doesn't make a lot of sense, with the easier hunts than you."

"He smelled something," Kili snapped. "Said he was going after those that killed Azog."

"Pain," Legolas said.  "Something about them smelling like pain."

Glorfindel's expression closed off at those words, "Well, the good news is he was probably the only commander."

Kili paused when he saw Arwen standing next to the twins. "Funny he didn't go after you first."

Arwen shifted at that look, "We may have been further away."

"Larger group as well," Elrohir said.

Kili scowled as Thorin and the other hunters came running down the street. "Didn't you guys hotwire a car?" Elladan asked, Thorin stopping dead when he saw the crater.

"Doesn't do much good when the engine has a hand through it," Dis snapped in response, her gaze sweeping around the crater as she came to a stop beside her brother.

"Dad!" Gimli yelled, running at his father the instant he saw him.

Gloin yanked his son into a tight embrace as soon as Gimli was in reach, "Thank the lucky stars."  Legolas watched them for a moment before yanking his attention away.

"Where is Fili?" Kili demanded, alighting next to Thorin, who startled and turned to look at him.

"He was uptown when Thorin called him," Dis said, not looking at Kili.

"And since?" Kili pressed.

"We have not heard from him," Thorin ground back, Gimli looking up from where his face was pressed against his father's chest at that.  "We were still quite busy.”

"We'll find him," Dis said, firmly, though she refused to think about or say what state he might be in when that happened.

"Try calling him again," Kili urged, even as Galadriel turned to Erestor.

"While we still have the night and the energy, we should try and hunt down the few demons that we may."

"They'll go for the easy prey, especially now that the commander's dead," Glorfindel said.  "And the houses around here will offer them both prey and cover for those that decide to stay here."

Thorin glared at Kili but he nodded before pulling out his cell phone because he had been itching to check in on his nephew since he had closed the phone the first time.

"They'll also head for other places of high density," Celeborn said, keeping an eye on the hunters.

Elrohir spoke from where he was standing near Elladan, "This hour of the night that's going to be the clubs and bars mostly."

"He's not answering," Thorin said, and tried again, because the number had kept ringing on, not even going to voicemail.

"What do you mean, he's not answering?" Dis turned to her brother with something like alarm tinting her voice.

"There's no," Thorin ended the call and tried again, this time going straight to voicemail. "He's not answering."

Even all the vampires had fallen completely silent, Tauriel turning from where she stood next to Arwen.

Dis shook her head, "That's not...No.  He has to be there."

Tauriel turned from where she had been quietly speaking to Arwen, as Kili stood poised for a moment before suddenly he was moving away. "Hey," she said, catching him at the edge of the crater. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to look for him," he snarled, Thorin hitting call again, standing shocked behind him.

"Alone?" she asked. "You do remember the pile of demons out there, right?"

"Do you even know where to start looking?" Arwen asked quietly.

"Uptown," Kili snapped and turned away again, Tauriel looking over at Arwen.

Arwen hesitated, returning Tauriel's look, "We can't let him go alone."

"No," she agreed and grinned at Arwen agreeing to her silent question before turning and bounding after Kili, already unslinging her bow again so it was ready in her hands. Arwen kept pace with her, step for step, her hand on the hilt of the long knife she carried along with her light sword.

Galadriel turned to where Ori was looking between the retreating vampires to Thorin, who stared at his phone like it had betrayed him. "We must keep going," she said. "There is a long darkness still to go, and demons to hunt."

"In the morning," Thorin said faintly. "We'll return here, see what we can scavenge from our home."

"Yes," Dwalin agreed and then paused. "But after that where will we go?"

Celeborn looked at Galadriel before speaking, "There is room in our home for the time being."

Thorin and Dwalin looked at each other before turning to look at the vampires. "Very well," Thorin said after a beat, too numb to even think about it.

Bofur opened his mouth to point out the problems that might be considering Bifur, but closed his mouth again, realizing they didn't have an alternative. Thorin looked over at Bofur before slightly shaking his head.

"Then we're agreed," Celeborn said.  Now, we should take advantage of what cover of night we still have to pare down their numbers."

"Yes," Galadriel said, waving a hand to summon Ori and she figured by extension Dori to her and Celeborn and trusting everyone else to fall into groups.

-0-

Bard shifted slightly, careful not to disturb Sigrid and Bain where they were curled next to him as he checked his watch.  He glanced toward Fili, speaking quietly, "Sun should be up by now."

"A little longer," Fili rasped. "To be safe, the sun should be over the horizon." His eyes had deep circles under them, as he had listened to the scrap and murmur of the demons above them all night. He had finally dropped into a doze a couple hours ago, only to have been awoken by a furious scream somewhere nearby.

"You going to need help with those wounds?" Bard asked.

"I can handle them," Fili said, Tilda stirring from where she had slept against his chest. "We," he coughed, turning his head into his shoulder and Tilda was awake now. "You'll need to see about packing," Fili said finally. "If there's anything you want to take."

Bard nodded very slightly, "There are a few things."  Sigrid stirred, curling closer to her father before blinking her eyes open.

"Then it might be best to pack them," Fili said.

Bard glanced toward where Janey was also starting to wake up, "We'll need to see if her parents...."  He broke off, not willing to continue.

"We will walk her there," Fili agreed. "And see."

"Where are we gonna go?" Tilda asked, sleepy as she started up at Fili.

Bard looked at Fili, brushing Sigrid's hair back from her face as she blinked toward Fili as well, "That's a good question.  If the portal opened under your house...."

Fili swallowed hard. "We'll still go there first," he said. "The portal will have been closed by now and if there are... they should still be there."

"Alright," Bard agreed quietly, watching Fili carefully.  "Most of them were already out weren't they?"

"All but two had already gone," Fili said and pushed himself to his feet, gently depositing Tilda beside him.

"I wanna come with you," she protested, flailing her arms out.

"Sh," he soothed. "I'm going to check the upstairs," he said looking at Bard. "If I don't come back down perhaps it would be best just to try and get out the house through the back kitchen."

Bard caught his youngest around the waist, drawing her close as he stared at Fili for the briefest of moments, "How long should I give you?"

“Fifteen minutes?" Fili offered, picking his sword back up.

Nodding, Bard checked his watch before looking back at him, "Be careful."

"Aren't I always careful?" Fili said, trying to joke but it sounded too wrong to his own ears. "I mean, I will be. Promise."

Bard's mouth twisted and it took a moment before he managed a hint of a smile, "Thank you."

Fili looked at him another moment before patting Tilda's head and taking the stairs two at a time, despite his body's vicious protests at him moving. Pushing the cabinet aside, he slunk into the kitchen, looking around warily as he considered the trashed nature of the room.

He found two demons sleeping upstairs in the girls' bedroom. He killed the first one before they realized he was there, and broke Sigrid's dresser fighting the second one. Pushing them both out the window because he could do nothing about the bloodstains, he swept the rest of the house, poking in ever closet and corner. Returning to the kitchen, he grabbed a water bottle from the pantry to sooth his aching throat from coughing all night with no water before going back to the basement steps. "No more demons and the sun is high enough most of them will be sleeping," he called down.

Bard got to his feet, lifting Tilda into his arms and heading up the steps with the other two kids and Janey behind him.  He stepped into the kitchen, blinking against the sunlight coming in through the window and looked to Fili, drawing a sharp breath as he caught sight of the bruises and blood the other had sustained that hadn't been as easily visible in the basement.

Fili raised a brow at him from where he was still drinking from the water bottle before he went back into the living room, frowning at the television whose screen had a giant crack in it before turning it on and flipping through channels until he went from a cartoon network to the news.

Janey followed him quietly, crouching down to look under the furniture for her phone and finally finding it under the sofa, digging it out and checking to see if it was still working.  "We'll be upstairs," Bard called.  "The first aid kit's in the master bathroom."

Fili stood frozen in front of the television set, staring in mute shock at the footage of destroyed houses, spreading outward from what he knew was the epicenter.

"What are they?" the reporter was wailing. "What are these creatures?"

Janey frowned at her phone, trying to ignore the news and deal with what little she was able to--the night had been bad enough and the day wasn't looking any better, "No service.  Can't call, might get a text through."  She finally looked up at the television, "Are the roads going to be useable out of here?"

"I don't know," Fili said, still staring. "The cement probably will still be fine." He turned abruptly, heading up the stairs, much slower this time.

Bard had taken one look in the girls' room and sent Tilda to help, or possibly hinder, Bain in packing his stuff.  He heard Fili come up the stairs, but didn't leave where he was working with Sigrid to get some clothes and a few of her favorite things from the room along with things for Tilda.

Peeking into the room, Fili winced before wandering back to the bathroom, shoulders and back protesting as he stripped off first the coat and then the shirt underneath. Pulling the first aid kit down, he considered before downing several aspirin and getting to work on washing the shallow cuts and the blood off his skin.

Zipping the girls' bags closed, Bard set them in the hall on the way to check on Fili, sending Sigrid in to make sure Tilda wasn't making things too difficult for Bain.  Bard paused in the bathroom doorway, letting his gaze travel over Fili's wounds for a moment, "Will you let me help with those?"

"It's fine," Fili dismissed, bending over to splash water on his face again, the muscles in his back rippling as he moved. When he looked up he paused, frowning at the cuts near his neck.

Bard's mouth went dry but he cleared his throat and took a step closer, "It doesn't look fine."

"Nothing bled too much," Fili said, eyes flickering to him in the mirror before he coughed again, bending over.

Bard sighed, "Sit down, Fili, please let me help?  You've done so much in the last day, hell the last few weeks."

"I can take care of it," Fili snapped, his head turning around and fire in his eyes.

"I'm not doubting that," Bard said, calmly.  "You shouldn't have to, though."

"You are far too many years late for that," Fili snapped, pulling the kit closer to smear antibiotic cream on his neck cuts and the long slash on his side, only managing to get to the neck ones.

Bard pressed his lips into a thin line and crossed to Fili's side, picking up the antibiotic cream, kneeling to get at the cut on Fili's side.

Fili hissed, staring down at him in alarm. "What are you--don't."

Bard looked up at him, stilling when he realized exactly where he was, but shook it off as quickly as he could, "Fili, please.  It's the absolute least I can do for you, please let me do it."

Fili looked away, cheeks reddening. "Fine."

Turning his attention to the cut, Bard made quick but careful work of treating the wound.  Reaching up to pull out a gauze pad he placed it against the cut and taped it in place to keep the medicine in place as much as anything.  Drawing back, he swallowed as he got to his feet and realized exactly how close he was to Fili.

"Bard," was all Fili said, sounding lost.

Reaching up and brushing a hand along Fili's jaw, Bard leaned in and kissed Fili before he could second guess himself. Tensing for a moment, Fili felt himself relax into the kiss, his mouth opening. Parting his lips and letting his tongue trace over Fili's lower lip, Bard slid his fingers into Fili's hair, leaning down into the kiss.

Whimpering, Fili tilted up on his toes, bracing his hands on Bard's chest. He ignored the sting of the cuts on his neck or the ache in his chest and side, concentrating instead on the warmth of Bard and the feel of his shirt against his bare skin. Bard drew back after another moment to catch his breath, lips still nearly brushing Fili's.

Fili paused, catching his breath before he suddenly shoved Bard backward forcing him as far back as his straight arms would allow.

Bard stumbled back an extra step, "I'm sorry.  I thought, that is..."

"No," Fili said, voice shaking.

Bard nodded very slightly, though he wanted to ask why exactly, "Alright.  I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed."

"No, that," Fili looked at the floor rather than Bard. "Fuck. Look. I've not... the world is ending, is this really a good idea to start something?"

"No, no you're right, it's not," Bard said, rubbing a hand along his jaw.  "It's a horrible time, really."

"But," and Fili sounded pained to still be talking. "It's more than that.” The admittance sounded like it hurt. “It's me I need... I need time."

Bard paused at that and nodded after a moment, "Alright."

"You're still not... when my brother died I fell into the first relationship that came my way and... it ended badly. It started badly. I... loved him in what limited way I could and we still..." he trailed off because he had never told Bofur he had loved him in any way when it would have made a difference, and he still did. He still enjoyed talking with Bofur, sitting with him in the kitchen and he felt a small thrill when Bofur still sought him out, but there was a chasm between them. "I need time," he finished and spoke like he was pounding nails into the coffin of his hope, like he was certain he was asking for a thing he would never get.

"Fili," Bard said quietly, "I get it.  You need time.  That's not an unreasonable thing to ask for.  I have no problem giving you time.  I would rather you make whichever choice is best for you after taking the time to think it through than anything, alright?" His hand hovered in the air between them before he thought better of it and dropped it, stepping back.

Fili frowned at him, gaze turning a little distrustful. "... Alright."

"I should, I should make sure I've got my things together, and double check on the kids," Bard said after another moment.

"Alright," Fili repeated, pulling his shirt back on with a small grunt of pain.

Bard hesitated for a second longer before slipping into the master bedroom to pack a bag, putting a few mementos in it along with his clothes--uniform and service gun in its case going in as well.  Keeping his mind carefully blank, he put the bag in the hall, carefully leaning Kili's bow against the wall next to it and going to check on the kids.

"Is everyone ready?" Fili asked, coming out of the bathroom minutes later, looking put together again, though he could do nothing about the stains on his coat or shirt.

Bard nodded, Janey getting the kids' coats on where she'd come up to help.  Bard hefted Tilda up and picked up his bag, Janey had Tilda's and was carefully carrying the bow for him, Sigrid and Bain both with their own bags.

"Good," Fili said, feeling fragile as he led the party downstairs. Taking a deep breath he pushed the door open and froze for a moment to see a large brown bear sitting on Bard's front lawn.

Bard stopped completely at the sight of the animal, blocking Sigrid and Bain's path as best he could and shifting his body just enough so that he could easily deposit Tilda behind him as well.

"Hello, Beorn" Fili said, still at the front of the group and the bear in question made a huffing sound, large jaws open wide.

" _What_?"  Bard demanded, setting Tilda down and pushing her toward Janey who took her by the hand.

Fili shrugged. "I suspected for a while." Beorn made a whuffing sound of displeasure. "Two demons got past your guard last night, by the way," Fili added.

"This is something I would consider relevant information," Bard said, looking Beorn over, frowning. Beorn managed to shrug even in his bear form. Bard stared at his partner, who could apparently change into a bear and shook his head, "Of course you don't think it is."

Sigrid peered out past her father, a hand on his leg before she stepped in front of him, dodging his instinctive restraining hand, "Beorn?"

The bear paused before huffing his agreement again. "Huh," Bain managed.

Sigrid blinked at him for a long moment, "You can change back on your own right?" He nodded the affirmative. She crossed her arms and looked him over again before nodding, "Good."

The bear seemed to smile at her, huffing before pushing himself up to his feet.

"Right," Fili said. "Let's go. Janey well check your home first, okay?"

The teen nodded, pointing down the street to their left, "Alright, I'm a block that way."

Sigrid ducked away from both her father and Fili to walk next to Beorn. Fili walked in front of the strange band, trying not to look too hard around them at the broken cars and corpses of both demons and humans.

Janey kept her eyes focused on the bear that walked with them rather than what was around them, "The blue house on that corner--" she broke off when she saw the way the front door had been knocked out of its frame.

"Stay here," Fili said, stilling for a moment before he approached the house, a hand on his sword.

Bard placed a hand on Janey's shoulder and she looked up at him, "They, they were at a Christmas party last night, but I don't know when they, when they were supposed to be home."

Fili came out a few minutes later and hesitated at the steps. "I didn't see any bodies," he said. "The place is torn apart though, and I... I don't know."

“No demons?" Janey verified.

"They weren't in there now," Fili said. "But they had gone through, sometime last night."

She nodded, "If, if you all can wait a few minutes, I'm going to pack a bag and see, and see if I can get my car out of the garage.  I'll aim for my grandparents' house, they live out of town."

"Alright," Fili said. "We'll wait until you're on the road, alright? Though, I saw on the news they're already calling in the National Guard and setting up centers for the refugees. I mean, they've declared us a disaster zone already so they might... they might be at one of those centers. Though getting out of town would be the best idea first."

Janey nodded, slipping into the house and grabbing a few of the family pictures as she made her way to her room, tossing things into a suitcase and backpack.

Sigrid leaned against Beorn's side while they waited, her hand buried in his fur, and looked at Bard, "We don't have anywhere out of town, Da."

"No, dear," he agreed quietly.

Fili tensed beside them, looking away and crossing his arms. Beorn turned slightly, to nuzzle his large head against Sigrid.

"You know," Fili said, still looking away. "He would probably let you ride on his back if you wanted."

Sigrid blinked at Fili and then looked at Beorn, tilting her head on one side, "Would you?"

Beorn stared at Fili for a moment before huffing in agreement.

Sigrid smiled at that, 'Thank you, Beorn."

He whuffed at her, a happy sound to come from such a large bear.

She tilted her head back to look at how far from the ground his shoulders were, "I'm not sure how… Is it okay if Da puts me up there?"

Beorn nodded again. "What about me?" Tilda asked, from where she had been subdued and quiet all morning.

Bard hesitated at Sigrid's pleading look before lifting her up and setting her gently on Beorn's back.  He glanced at his partner, "Tilda too?"

Beorn nodded again, crouching down to make it easy for Bard, Fili standing still to one side and scanning up and down the street. Bard picked Tilda up, placing her in front of Sigrid, the elder of the two girls wrapping her arms around Tilda. 

There was a rattle as Janey disengaged the garage chain and shoved the door up, "The car they took is gone." She called, "They probably didn't come back last night."  She tossed her bags into the backseat of the Range Rover in the garage and climbed in, backing it out carefully and then rolling down the window, looking at Bard, "I'll try and get a call through to you when I get to my grandparents' to let you know I'm there."

"Good luck," Fili managed. "Be careful."

"Thanks," she said.  "You too."  She looked past Fili and Bard to the three kids, "I'll see you guys after this is over, okay?"

Sigrid's fingers curled against Tilda's side, but she nodded, "Bye, Janey."

"Good luck," Bain said quietly, still standing pressed close to his father.

"See you later," Janey said, focusing on Bain specifically for a moment before rolling up the window against the December chill and carefully driving down the street.

Watching her go, Fili turned back to Bard and the others. "Are you sure you want to keep following me?" he asked. "You might have gone with her."

"With everything you've told me," Bard said, looking at Fili, "out of town's only going to be a good choice for a couple of nights yet." Fili twisted his mouth before nodding, turning away again.


	30. You Can't Put Off Wal-Mart Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a reference to a homophobic slur in here. But it's just a reference and not really mentioned in detail.

The small band led by Fili continued on their way to where the hunters' house had stood, Bard keeping Bain close to his side and a careful eye on where the girls were perched on Beorn's back.

Fiil's steps became quicker the closer they got, until he finally gave in and ran the last block. He came staggering to a stop at the edge of a crater where the hunter’s house had once stood, and the sun seemed too bright in the sky above. Half of the old gardener’s cottage remained, shorn in half and the inside open to the world. The hunters were milling around, picking through what little remained and Ori turned first.

"Fili!" he yelled, catching everyone else’s and was running before he realized his feet were moving, throwing himself at Fili who caught him automatically. "You son of a bitch," he choked, voice breaking. "You son of a bitch, I'm going to kill you!"

Dis turned sharply as Ori took off, her eyes widening as she caught sight of Fili and she reached out to catch her balance against what remained of a wall to ehr right, her left hand moving to cover her mouth.

Gimli came bounding over, throwing himself on Ori and Fili. "You bastard," he added, Ori burying his face in Fili's shoulder and Fili staggered under the weight of both of them, frozen in shock.

Dori approached a couple of steps behind Gimli, putting a solid hand on Fili's shoulder between the other two, "I'm not going to hug you, but it's so good to see you, Fili."

"You're not going to hug me?" he asked, a shade weakly.

"I considered it, but I'd have to get around Gimli and Ori both," Dori said, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Oh, well," Fili said, still faint as Ori finally pulled away.

"We thought you were dead!" he yelled, voice still high pitched enough to break. "Your phone..."

"It broke," Fili murmured, swallowing hard and confusion on his face.

"You were the last unaccounted for," Dori said quietly.  "We all made it through the night."

"Oh," Fili said in quiet relief as Dwalin appeared, Ori and Gimli finally letting him go. "The vampires...?" he started to ask and hesitated when Dwalin glared down at him, arms crossed over his chest. Bard, the children and Beorn stopped at the old crumbling wall, watching quietly, though Tilda tilted her head back to look from Bard to where Fili was still standing so close between so many people.

"Also all made it through the night," Dori answered, voice still carefully mild.

"Dwalin," Fili greeted, a little nervously before Dwalin bent down abruptly, gathering him into a hug tight enough it lifted Fili's feet off the ground and all he could do was yelp.

Bofur appeared as Dwalin set Fili down, not quite approaching yet, but looking Fili over to make sure he was actually alright.

"Bofur," Fili said, voice strained and Ori blinked at the brown bear and Bard.

Bofur hesitated for the briefest of moments before closing the space between them and hugging Fili, "I'm so glad you're alright."

"I'm sorry I made you cry," Fili said, wrapping his arms tight around Bofur and holding on, ignoring the pain so many embraces were causing his sore ribs.

Drawing an unsteady breath, Bofur tightened his embrace, "Don't be.  You're here, that's what matters."

"You're still crying," Fili said, raising his hands enough to wipe a few of the tears away, without breaking Bofur's hold on him.

"I'm just so happy you're alright," Bofur said, shaking his head.  "When Thorin couldn’t get a call to you..."

"I'm sorry," Fili repeated. "I'm sorry, I tried but there was no way to get a call out."

"Where were you?" Thorin asked, having approached quietly and hung back, his hands were shaking but his voice was level. "Kili went looking for you and we were," his voice broke and he fell silent, but hadn't approached Fili yet like the others had.

Bofur drew back, but kept a hand on Fili's arm, glancing back at where Bard stood.

"In Bard's basement," Fili admitted, looking at Bofur and smiling because he had not let go. "We hid there the night, quiet.”

Dwalin turned to look over at Bard, arms over his chest and looking stoic again from where his facade had broken when he lifted Fili up. Bard finally approached at Dwalin's look, making sure Bain stayed with Beorn.

"Hello again," Dwalin greeted, and Fili turned slightly, Thorin watching Bard with an unreadable expression.

"Hello," Bard nodded to Dwalin before looking to Thorin.  "I own Fili my children’s' lives,” he added softly.

Thorin was still staring at him, and Dwalin looked away from Bard to look at the three children clustered around the bear. "Yes," he agreed. "That I believe."

Bard offered a thin smile at that.  Dori spoke, addressing Fili, "The bear has to do with what you had me looking into, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Fili said. "He's a cop, by the way," and Beorn huffed as Fili turned back to Thorin. "What are we going to do, uncle?"

"The vampires offered us a place to stay," Dis said, having finally approached a minute or so after her brother.

"What?" Fili asked, looking over in surprise and then paling.

She nodded ever so slightly, "Apparently they say they've room.  For now at least."

Fili bit the inside of his lip, looking back at Bard and the children.

"They would probably have room for all of us," Thorin said after a beat.

"That's not entirely what I'm worried about," Fili admitted and then he stopped, eyes snapping back to Thorin, sleep muddled mind catching up. "Wait. You thought I was dead. Kili..."

"Took off when your uncle couldn't reach you," Dis said.  "Two of the other vampires went with him."

Fili looked over at Ori who could only shrug and Gimli's face darkened. "He," he started and fell silent. "Alright." But his hands were shaking.

"We were checking the house," Ori said quietly. "See if there was anything," and he grabbed Fili's arm and dragged him back over to the cottage's small remains.

"A house of vampires," Bard murmured, "should have gone with Janey..."  Bofur spared him a glance but followed Fili and Ori rather than stay.

"What's wrong?" Ori asked.

"Are you kidding?" Fili asked. "Kili is going to be--"

"Up a wall?" Bofur offered quietly.

Fili flickered a look over to him and back to Ori. "Or worse. We haven't... we haven't talked in days. We haven't been within touching distance since I was sick."

"What?" Ori stopped, staring at Fili. "You haven't?"

"That's...." Bofur blinked rapidly, "That's a long time." _For you two,_ went unsaid.

"Why haven't you?" Ori asked. "You let him follow you around for months, you touched all the time even after--" and he froze, Fili looking away in the half remains of his old room. "He," Ori started and stopped because he couldn't believe the concept of what he was about to say. "He asked you to become a vampire, didn't he?"

Fili looked down and away.

Bofur paled, watching Fili's reactions and shooting Ori an alarmed glance.

Fili bent down, brushing dust off what once had been a shelf. "Look," he said, instead of answering Ori. "That dragon carving you made, Bofur, it survived."

Bofur shook himself out of his alarm enough to manage a slight grin, "Go figure that that would survive this." Fili gave him a faint smile back.

"Fili!" Ori snapped. "What is wrong with you?"

"Fili," Bofur asked, speaking carefully, "What did Kili say?"

Fili paused, his eyes flickering up before he looked around to make sure the others were still standing away, seeing Thorin talking to Bard. Working his jaw for a moment he looked up to Bofur's face. "He asked if I wanted to be a vampire, to be with him, to run away. When I said I was unsure he was angry and said, uh, if I was injured or dying he would turn me if he could reach me."

Bofur swore, raking a hand over his hair.

“You can't be serious," Ori said weakly. "Fili, you didn't say _no_?"

"He's not leaving you much choice in the matter, is he?" Bofur asked.

"I don't know how much of a choice it will be," Fili admitted, looking down again. "I put him off until after the portal but..."

"Which portal?" Bofur demanded, "The last one?"

"Yes," Fili said, bending down to riffle through the rubble again instead of looking at him.

Bofur rubbed a hand over his face, "That's not very long."

"No," Fili agreed faintly.

"I..." Bofur trailed off, shaking his head.  "What are you going to do if he doesn't like your answer?"

"I don't... I don't know," Fili admitted, finally looking at Bofur again.

Bofur rested his hand on Fili's arm, "I'll do what I can to help you, you know that."

Fili's eyes flickered over. "Even if I say yes?"

Bofur flinched at that question, "I...I don't know if I can promise that."

"Because you would be scared of me?" Fili asked, voice brittle.

"Because I'm terrified of losing you," Bofur answered, looking Fili in the eye.

For a long moment they stared at each other, Ori standing to the side and looking between them, unsure if he wanted to break their silence or slink away. Finally, Fili jerked his gaze away, rubbing a hand over his chin and trying to breath. “I’m sorry,” he said finally and Bofur swallowed hard, only nodding.

Fili breathed until the motion came easy. "We should--we should go. If we're going to go. The others must be waiting." There was no a lot to pick through, outside of the cottage.

Bofur nodded very slightly, glancing at Ori and then turning his full attention back to Fili, "Alright.  If you're ready."

Fili stared at him a moment before he nodded, squaring back his shoulders and pushing his hair back. He felt like he was putting himself back together from that stare.

"Fili," Ori started as Bofur walked away, and Fili shook his head, pocketing the carving before he realized he had wandered into the library while he had been speaking to Bofur.

"Oh," he said, and moved forward, the plant Bilbo had left him dropping in the blown out windowsill. "We'll talk later," he said instead of looking at Ori and picked up the plant, following Bofur.

Dori spoke as they emerged, "I think we've gotten what we can here."

Fili nodded, Thorin frowning between him and Bofur. "Then let’s go,” Fili said, voice level.

Bofur paused but moved over to his brother and cousin, glancing toward the three kids and the bear and shaking his head ever so slightly.

"Are you coming with us?" Fili asked, looking over at Bard.

Bard hesitated, seriously considering the options before him and his kids before sighing, "There aren't a lot of choices."  He very much did not want his children around vampires, and would have preferred they be a long way from Fili's immediate family as well.  "The centers aren't likely to be any more secure than the house, so yes, we're coming with you."

Looking at him for a long time, Fili finally nodded. "Alright," he said, Dis and Dori already starting to lead the group away, Fili and Dwalin falling into the rear. They made a strange procession across town, which was almost eerily still considering the hour.

"You looked surprised this morning," Dwalin remarked, Fili walking with his hands in his pockets.

"What do you mean?" he asked, still looking down and from side to side, trying to stay aware without looking too closely.

"That we all missed you," Dwalin said. "You were acting surprised." Fili shrugged and Dwalin stopped walking to stare at him, Fili falling still. "You never realized, did you?"

"Realized what?" Fili asked, finally looking up and he looked exhausted under the faint light of the December sun.

"That we would all mourn you if you died," Dwalin replied and Fili froze, eyes widening at being called out. "Didn't think so," Dwalin sighed. He turned and started walking again, Fili only getting his feet to move when Ori looked back over his shoulder at him. Shaking his head slightly, he jogged to catch up and tried to ignore the aches in his body.

The group reached the vampires' mansion and Dis frowned at the door for a long moment before knocking on it.  The door swung open, Legolas just out of the sunlight inside.

"Hello," Thorin greeted, Fili jogging to the front of the group.

"Hello," Legolas responded, looking past them and smiling when he saw Gimli, before falling very still.  "You brought a bear?  And....and children?"

"It was a long night," Fili said, reaching Legolas and pushing past.

Legolas blinked at Fili at that, but nodded, "Yeah, it was."  He watched as the rest of the hunters filed through the door, "I'm not sure we can fit the bear in here, though."

The bear in question huffed and rumbled before Beorn kneeled down enough for Bard to pull Tilda and Sigrid off.

"Not sure he's staying," Gimli said, still confused and looking over at Legolas. "Kili came back, right?"

Legolas nodded again, watching Bard and the kids and feeling something knot in his chest at the sight, "Yeah, he was on the second floor, stalking around an hour or so ago."

"Kili!" Fili yelled once he was inside the door, and he only had to wait a few seconds before Kili came flying down the stairs, launching himself at Fili and he only had time to brace himself and widen his eyes before Kili was there, arms wrapped around him.

The call was enough to draw Arwen out to the landing, "Legolas, why's the door still open?"

"Because we're--" He broke off as Bard and the kids stepped through, "Never mind."  Closing the door he stepped back a bit.

"You're alive," Kili said, once he got his voice back, Fili having raised his arms to hold onto Kili, cheek pressed against the dark hair. His feet were entirely off the ground, and Fili sagged under holding his weight but refused to let him go.

“Yeah, yeah I am, sorry for worrying you," he said, Dwalin's words from earlier still in his ears.

Legolas shifted at that interaction, looking increasingly more uncomfortable before he set it out of his mind, "I can show you all the rooms we've got set aside for you."  He glanced toward Bard and the kids, "And we'll see about getting another one opened up."

Tilda stared at him with wide eyes. "I like Fili's hair more," she declared with all the pride of a three year old.

Kili didn't notice, still clinging to Fili. His entire focus had been on his brother to the exclusion of even seeing who else was there. "Where the fuck were you? Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"It was broken," Fili said, starting to shift back and Kili only clung tighter so Fili stopped, just rubbing circles on Kili's back. "It's okay, I'm alive, I wasn't even in that much danger most of the night." Which was a lie, as he spent the long hours of the night watching the basement door and barely daring to breath with fear the demons would be able to hear it as they tromped through the house and out all night.

On the other side of the foyer, Legolas blinked down at Tilda for a long moment and seriously considered the merits of dyeing his hair in the near future if that comparison happened again, "Well, he apparently has very nice hair." Gimli covered his mouth, lowering one hand to fumble a hand out to grab Legolas'.

Bard eyed the blond vampire warily, Tilda's pronouncement having drawn his attention from Fili and Kili and his cursory examination of the foyer.  He picked her up, Sigrid leaning against his side.

The other vampires had drifted into the room, Tauriel's hair wet from the long shower she had taken once her and Arwen finally convinced Kili the sun was about to rise and they had to return.

Kili finally seemed to draw his attention away from Fili's heart beat enough to notice that there were more people in the foyer then he had expected, his eyes snapping to Bard. "What are they doing here?"

"I would imagine they need somewhere to stay and the hunters brought them," Elrohir said, leaning against the banister.

Kili's eyes flickered back to Fili's face. "Why are they here?" he hissed again and Fili stared back.

"Because their house was destroyed and they don't have anywhere safe and Bard is willing to help," he replied, Tilda ignoring the tense line of Kili's shoulders to flail toward Fili.

Bard tightened his grip on her, catching her hands and shaking his head as he watched Fili and Kili, "Not right now, darling."

Kili finally seemed to notice something else, eyes narrowing. "Is that my bow?" he asked, voice dropping.

"Do you want it back?" Fili asked, tone deceptively mild. "He can trade for one of the vampire bows."

"Why does he have it?" Kili asked, eyes narrowed and he had finally put his feet back on the ground, Fili letting out a tiny sound of relief.

"Because we didn't have any others and it's the only thing he had any training in," Fili returned. "Besides, it means it survived the," and he floundered because the house where he had grown up was gone and all he had left was a badly burned plant and a wood carving and the mithril sword.

"Kili, maybe it would be a good idea to let them rest?" Arwen suggested from the landing.

"Do you want it back?" Fili repeated the question, meeting Kili's eyes before Kili finally stepped back.

"She's right, you should all rest," Kili said, but even having stepped back he didn't let go of Fili's hands.

Legolas hesitated at that, but nodded, "The rooms at the east end of the second floor are all ready for you all."  He glanced at Bard, "Or nearly."

"How many rooms?" Fili asked, loath to leave Kili alone as much as he was to leave Bard and the children alone in a house of vampires.

"Six I think?" Legolas said, glancing toward Elrohir who nodded.

Thorin nodded, leading the way up the stairs after Legolas, talking quietly to Dwalin about arrangements. For the most part it was simple enough, matching up brothers. "Bofur, can all your brothers share one room?" he asked, Bifur standing tense and vibrating, as close se he could get to Bofur.

Bofur nodded, a hand on Bifur's forearm, "Yes, the three of us can take a room.  Probably best."

"I'll share with Fili," Dwalin rumbled, and Thorin looked at him.

"What?"

Dis blinked at Dwalin for a long moment, "You're....what?"

Dwalin looked over at her. "The boy wouldn't share a room with you and you know it," he said. Dis crossed her arms but nodded briefly in acknowledgement that he was right.

Thorin paused for a long moment before he nodded, looking back down at where Fili was still standing with Kili, Kili occasionally touching his face to make sure he was actually there and still breathing.

Arwen slipped past them to go start on preparing another room in the same hall, next to the last one they had set up for the hunters.

"Fine," Thorin said. "And the man and his children will stay together?"

Dis nodded, "Yes.  That would be the best option."

Thorin nodded again, Fili looking up the stairs. "Are you going to go sleep?" Kili asked, pressing closer.

"I, I need to," Fili said, but he didn't pull away.

"I could," Kili started.

"No," Fili said, perhaps too quickly because the thought of curling around Kili and sleeping like that made his heart stop for a moment. He had nightmares and often woke up half in a panic, and feeling a body that was cool and not breathing when he woke up made fear lodge in his throat at just the idea.

Elrohir tipped his head to one side, watching them from where he hadn't left the banister, speaking in a tone that sounded far more off-handed than he was actually, "Sounds like sleeping arrangements have already been sorted out."

Fili startled, looking up. "What? Ours?"

"Thorin and the other scowly one were just talking about it," Elrohir said, nodding toward where Dwalin was.

"He's not always scowly," Fili said, instead of anything else.

"You could sleep in my room," Kili said. "It might be getting crowded."

"Thank you," Fili said. "But no." He took a shuddering breath, Kili watching him too intently. "We'll talk more later, alright?"

Kili’s face turned ugly for a moment, and he opened his mouth before he closed it again, nodding and stepping back abruptly. Fili almost fell over before balancing on his own again.

Elrohir hummed, finally pushing away from the banister, still not turning away from where he was watching Fili and Kili.  Arwen reappeared, nodding to Bard and quietly telling him another room was ready for them.

"Come on," Fili said faintly and this time Tilda tried to launch herself out of her father's arms. "Here, I can take her."

Bard hesitated, glancing toward Kili warily, but finally nodded and handed her to Fili, "Thank you."

Tilda wrapped her arms around Fili's neck and pressed herself there. "Lots of hugs," she murmured and Fili smiled, Kili standing to the side, too still to be human and his eyes unblinking.

Bard couldn't quite suppress a smile at TIlda's reaction to Fili before he looked to Sigrid and Bain, "Alright, let's see what this room's like."

"If there's a real bed, I'll be happy," Bain said, because he had barely slept on the hard floor of the basement, occasionally shooting dirty looks at Tilda who had been cushioned on Fili.

Sigrid nodded her agreement, "The basement was too cold."

Arwen smiled in their direction from where she stood with Elrohir, "I promise there's a bed, with lots of blankets."

"Can I sleep with you?" Tilda asked, tilting her head up to look at Fili.

"I have a different room, and you slept on me all night," Fili said, glancing at Bard.

Bard shook his head slightly, trusting Fili, but far from willing to let any of the three kids out of his sight, "No, Tilda, I think we should let Fili settle in himself."

"Your dad makes a good bed too, promise," Fili said, petting her hair as Arwen led them to the room.

Pushing the door open, Arwen quietly excused herself, Sigrid watching her go with intent eyes.  Bard stepped inside and considered the room; it had a queen-sized bed, extra pillows and blankets stacked on a chair in the corner and a dresser against the wall opposite.  Based on the size and design of the house he was willing to bet that there weren't any single beds, at least easily portable ones, in the entire place.  The spare bedding could serve easily as a makeshift place to sleep on the floor if it came to it.

Fili opened his mouth and closed it again, because any offer he made would ring wrong and Bard clearly wanted his children with him. Instead, he gently set Tilda down on the bed and stepped back, the girl almost half asleep again.

Bard carefully took Tilda's shoes and coat off, glancing up and offering Fili a quiet smile.  He stepped away from the bed, toward the door as Sigrid and Bain got their own coats and shoes off.  He spoke quietly, "Are you going to be alright?"

"I'm fine," Fili said and amended. "I will be fine. What do you think is wrong?"

"You just lost your entire home and are now living in the same house as your vampire brother," Bard murmured in reply.

Fili frowned. "It was just a house," he said. "Lots of memories but... not all of them were good,” he settled for finally. Bard considered him for a long moment and then nodded after a long moment of silence. Fili gave him a hesitant smile, as if to prove he would be alright, even though he had said nothing about the second half of Bard's statement.

"Get some rest, Fili.  I know you didn't sleep much, if at all, last night," Bard said, offering him another faint smile even though he recognized the fact that Fili wasn't responding to his comment about Kili.

"I'll try," was all Fili allowed before he slipped out of the room again.

Bard closed the door behind him and considered for a moment before dragging the chair over and setting it just enough in front of the door to make opening it difficult. "You're worried," Bain said, having folded himself on the bed next to his sister.

His father moved over to the bed and sat down, running a hand over his face as he nodded, "I am."

"Because of where we are?" Sigrid asked from where she was burrowed under the covers on Bain's other side.

"Partly," Bard said.

"What's the other part?" Bain asked.

"I want you all to be very careful while we're here," Bard said rather than directly answer that question.

"There are vampires, we will be," Sigrid said.

Bard nodded slightly, "Especially around that brown-haired one that Fili was talking to.  Alright?"

"He looks like him," Tilda said.

"Yes, he does," Bard agreed. He had never realized how much until he saw them standing together, and could not stop from remembering Fili’s half fevered conversation in the car.

"Fili said he got the bruise on his throat because someone was trying to hurt his brother," Sigrid said.  "Was that who he meant?"

Bard hesitated before nodding.

"Why are you worried about him?" Bain asked, frowning.

"Because," Bard broke off, trying to figure out how to distill what he knew adequately, "because I don't know how he'll respond to things or to you.  And I don't want to risk anything happening."

"Da, we're in a house of vampires," Sigrid pointed out.

"Because demons invaded our own house," Bain added.

"I think there's something wrong between him and Fili," Tilda said faintly, still flat on her back on the bed.

Bard brushed a hand over Tilda's hair, "That's perceptive.  What makes you say that?"

‘They hold too hard and Fili looked scared when he came down the stairs."

"He didn't let Fili go when Fili started to pull away, either," Sigrid said quietly, sitting up and drawing her knees up to her chest.  "And he doesn't like us being here."

"No, he doesn't," Bard agreed, softly.

"That why you want us to be careful?" Bain asked, already starting to fall asleep.

"Yes," their father said simply.

Bain looked at Tilda and then nodded. "We'll be careful… er, promise."

"Good," Bard murmured.  "Now, try to get some sleep.  I'll be right here." Bain nodded, crawling across the bed to cuddle Tilda to his chest before dropping off.

Sigrid slid further under the blankets, curling closer to her siblings as she slipped into sleep, their father settling in the chair by the door with a blanket.

-0-

Dwalin waited until Fili had passed out, spread out over his stomach and shirt pulled over his head to step out of the room. It was better than staring at the white bandages and bruises. He barely had to turn his head to see Kili standing next to the door, arms crossed and looking like a statue.

“Do vampires need to sleep?” Dwalin asked, mostly a rhetorical question and Kili turned his head to look at him.

“Differently,” he said. “I don’t need rest right now.”

“And you won’t leave Fili,” Dwalin said, not a question. Kili barely shrugged his shoulders, not blinking still.

It made Dwalin’s skin crawl more then he wanted to admit. He wanted to say a hundred things, because Kili still looked like Kili, and he wanted to apologize for not being there when he died, for not training him better, for not helping when it mattered. He wanted to hug the boy he had helped raised.

Except this boy was a danger to the other one in the room at the moment and anyone who hadn’t suspected could see it now.

“But you will let him rest,” Dwalin said, still not a question and Kili tilted his head. “You want him to keep loving you, right?”

“He’s never going to stop,” Kili said, and something sounded forlorn in his voice.

“Probably,” Dwalin agreed, and stepped forward. There was no physical strength that could intimidate Kili and they both knew it. “But at least he needs rest.”

“I’m giving it to him,” Kili replied, tilting his head back.

“For the moment,” Dwalin added and Kili did not correct him. “I may have loved you,” Dwalin said and he could see Kili tense. “I may still love you. It’s complicated. But I will not forgive you for hurting him, not now.”

“Who says I’m the one who’s hurting him?” Kili asked and Dwalin just stared at him, eyes hard until he pressed his shoulders more solidly into the wall behind him.

“Because you always have without noticing,” Dwalin replied and closed the door behind him as he stepped back inside.

“Is,” Fili started to slur, stirring.

“Kili’s out there, standing guard,” Dwalin replied, feeling his heart rabbit in his chest and Fili nodded, already sinking further into the pillow. “Go to sleep, you need it.”

Fili was already asleep again and Dwalin spent too much time sitting on the edge of the bed and staring at him before he finally lay down and allowed himself to sleep too.

-0-

Thorin came down the stairs first, hair ruffled. "Good morning," Galadriel greeted from where she and Arwen were playing cards. "We should speak of our next move."

"Yes," Thorin greeted. "And soon. But we are human and in need of food and clean clothing. After a night of hunting we will need to eat before any war council."

"We should be back in a couple of hours at the most," Dis said, wrapping her hair into a quick braid as she reached the main floor.

Galadriel arched a brow before nodding, long blonde hair sweeping over one shoulder. "Very well."

Dori came down the stairs at that point, the sounds of Thorin moving in the room beside him having already woken him up, considering Galadriel and Arwen for a moment before looking to Thorin, "The others are on their way down."

"Good," Thorin said. "We need food, to supply."

"We have supplies," Tauriel said, sprawled out with her back to the banister.

"Not food," Thorin shot back.

Dori glanced back up the stairs and blinked when he saw Bard there with Tilda on his hip and Sigrid and Bain at his side--Sigrid's gaze focused on Tauriel.  Bard spoke, "I hope you don't mind us coming with you."

Fili and Dwalin came out of their room at the same time, Fili's eyes still red-rimmed and Ori staggering out behind them. Fili opened his mouth, looking at Bard before he shook his head. "Alright," Thorin agreed after another moment's consideration.

"I want to sleep for a week." Ori said, staggering against Fili and letting the other hold him upright, Fili wrapping an arm around his waist.

"Which is why you're standing?"

"I also am really fucking hungry," Ori said, rubbing his eye with one hand. "I still can't believe I have to be awake to eat."

"Well," Fili grinned. "I could try hand feeding you...?"

"Oh ha ha," Ori muttered.

Sigrid's eyes widened and her attention shifted briefly from Tauriel to look toward Ori.  Before she could say anything Balin and Oin emerged, both looking like they could use another several hours of sleep and Oin still fiddling with his hearing aids.

Dwalin knocked on the door where Bofur's family had settled. "So what's the plan, Thorin?" he asked, Tauriel cocking her head at Ori and Fili and looking over at the girl who had barely stopped staring at her. Kili was perched on the top level of the stairs, sitting on the banister and watching Fili, who finally seemed to notice and looked up the flights of stairs to where he was.

"Take a bus," Thorin said, rifling through his wallet. "I can get cash off an ATM still, and we have enough for a good breakfast."

Sigrid startled slightly when she realized Tauriel was looking back at her and slid a little closer to her father.  Bofur stepped out of the room moments before Bombur and Bifur, "We're coming, just taking a little longer."

"That's fine," Dwalin said.

"We'll have to go somewhere to get food and clothes," Thorin said.

"Not Wal-Mart," Fili said, too quickly.

"It's the most economical for only making one stop," Balin said.

Fili groaned and Ori laughed, turning his head against Fili's side, and Kili was still watching from above.

"Come on," Thorin said, ignoring Fili and heading for the door, the rest falling more or less into step behind him, except Fili who tilted his head back.

"We'll be back soon," he said, and Kili scowled.

"You could borrow some of my clothes, if you liked," he said instead of anything else and Fili shook his head, line of his shoulders too tense.

"You're taller and skinnier, Kili. We'll be back soon, alright? Nothing is going to go wrong and we have a multitude of phones with us." He felt Kili’s gaze between his shoulder blades the whole way to the door.

As they stepped out of the house, Dis pointed down the street, "The bus stops just down there.  At least I recall seeing a stop around the corner."

Thorin nodded, and Dwalin stepped out in front before Thorin could try and lead them anywhere, the hunters moving mostly silently.

"At least the demons didn't really get this far," Ori said quietly.

"Small mercies," Dori murmured, shaking his head and glancing around at the expensive homes.

"Sure," Dwalin muttered, shaking his head. "The rich still untouched, the middle class and poor, meanwhile..."

"It's not their fault," Thorin said, but bitterness leaked into his voice anyway.

"Doesn't stop them taking advantage of it," Dis remarked with a grimace.

"Can we not?" Gimli asked, rubbing his eyes.

Dis glanced toward him, but Bofur spoke first, "We have a place to stay because this area's untouched."

"See?" Gimli said. "Can we let it go?"

"And after this is all over?" Ori asked.

"We will think of that later," Thorin cut off.

Dis made a vaguely discontent sound, but nodded very slightly as they reached the bus stop.  Balin checked the posted schedule, checking it against his watch just as the bus pulled onto the street.

"What do you know, for once luck is on our side," Fili muttered, having hung back to walk with Ori and Bard and his children.

The bus doors opened and Sigrid actually stepped away from her father's side to be closer to Fili for the first time. Fili looked down at her in confusion as Thorin carefully counted out money and told the confused bus driver exactly how many of them were getting on at one time.

Once they were all on the bus driver glanced in her mirror, slightly surprised to see that they'd all found seats even with the passengers already aboard, before closing the doors and pulling away.

Ori sat down next to Fili, almost instantly curling up against his side again. "You feeling clingy?" Fili asked, amused and Ori shrugged, already dozing again.

Sigrid hesitated, settling with her father and siblings across the aisle from Fili and Ori and glancing toward where Bofur had sat down a couple of rows back beside Bifur.  Bofur’s head was tipped toward Bifur and he was murmuring quietly enough that, beyond Bifur, he couldn't be heard over the bus engine. Bifur shifted a few times, Bombur perched on the seat behind them.

"How much money do we even have?" Dwalin asked, from where he was standing in the aisle next to Thorin and holding the railing.

"Enough," Thorin said. "I think."

"Too bad we never had insurance on the house."

"We wouldn't have been able to do much in the way of payments on that," Dis said, hand wrapped around one of the upright posts.

"And it's unlikely they would have paid out for this circumstance even if we had it," Balin contributed from where he was sitting nearby.

"Did you see the news at all?" Dwalin asked. "We might well have gotten that money back out from them."

Fili pulled Ori tighter against him when the bus went over a bump, vaguely noticing the dark look a man further down was giving the both of them.

"I'm pretty sure they'd file any such claims under 'acts of god'," Balin said, shaking his head.  "Good luck to anyone with insurance getting them to pay out after this disaster."

"Maybe," Dwalin shrugged, scanning the bus constantly, noting where Fili and Ori sat across from Bard and his children, the others clustered together.

Dis' gaze swept around the bus, pausing for a moment on Fili and Ori and then for a moment longer on the man watching them.  She leaned a little more against the pole she was using as the bus turned, "Well, regardless, there's no use thinking about the 'should haves' and 'might haves' at this point."

"I wish we were friends with lawyers," Dwalin sighed, Thorin tensing as the man made a rude gesture toward Fili, muttering something about homosexuals and why they should know better to come out in public.

"Say that again," Thorin snapped, "And I will break your spine."

Bard tensed at the man's actions and words, glancing toward Fili.

"Thorin," Dis said, shaking her head.  "I think cutting off some valuable anatomy might be more appropriate."

Ori startled awake at that, looking around in confusion.  “You slept through a homophobic slur,” Fili whispered quietly to him. “Go back to sleep.”

“Oh,” he started, already relaxing again and then tensed. “What?”

"Both of you," Dwalin said, tone mild. "Please. You should know better with a cop in hearing. Simply," and he leveled the man in question with a long look, towering over anyone else on the bus. "That someone who says such cruel and spiteful things should realize what's coming to him."

"Not much better for being a vague threat," Bard pointed out.

Dwalin grinned at him and Fili sighed in relief when the bus pulled into the next stop, all but dragging Ori off the bus before anyone else could continue talking.

As soon as her feet touched the sidewalk, Sigrid was at Fili's side, "People are nasty."

Fili looked down at her in some surprise. "What?"

"He shouldn't have said that.  He shouldn't be _allowed_ to say that," Sigrid said firmly.

"I'm not... with Ori," Fili said after a beat.

"I'm hurt and crushed by this news," Ori said snidely beside him before covering up a huge yawn and Fili narrowed his eyes. "Besides, doesn't mean he should be allowed to say shit like that, you have slept with guys before and it's not really that far off the mark of who you are."

"Ori," Fili said after a shocked beat. "You have no kid filter."

Sigrid blinked at Ori for a long moment before turning back to Fili, "It doesn't matter if you're not with Ori.  Like he said," she pointed at Ori, "that man shouldn't say it anyway."

"Thank you," Fili said after a beat. "And no, he really shouldn't."

"How did you end up with one anyway?" Ori asked.

"Common sense?" Fili offered, shaking his head  and folding his arms over his chest.

"Tilda threw herself into his arms the first time she saw him.  She has that effect," Sigrid confided to Ori.

"I'm not sure I associate common sense with throwing yourself into a stranger's arms," Ori remarked and Fili rolled his eyes as Thorin pushed open the door to Dennys.

"I didn't say she had any," Sigrid said.

"Right," Ori said and Fili hunched his shoulders, entering the diner at the back of the group and trying to ignore the look on the waitress' face when Thorin told her the size of the party.

The group scattered around to different tables in the same section of the restaurant before the server checked in about drinks and left to fetch them.

"We should make a shopping list," Dwalin said, across from Thorin. Fili, Ori, and Dori had squeezed into a long booth with Bard and his children.

"We're going to need to see about things that won't spoil," Dis said from where she was seated next to her brother.  "I don't expect they've a refrigerator or anything of that sort."

Thorin rubbed a hand over his face and nodded. "Yes, that makes sense. Would they have a stove?"

"We can't count on it," Balin said, shaking his head.

"We'll have to get a water boiler," Dwalin said. "And instant coffee." He  ignored Thorin's groan.

"We could price a cheap camping stove," Dis said, "but we'd have to worry about cooking utensils then.  An electric kettle can double as a two or three serving pasta maker too."

"If you think for an instant someone wouldn't be using it for tea or coffee," Dwalin said, Thorin rubbing his temples. "No. Electric kettle and microwave, plastic utensils and forks. It's only for a few days."

"At which point we either don't have to worry about anything further or we have to find a new place to live," Dis murmured.  "So that's what we need to prepare meals, and pretty solidly determines what we can get for food as well.  We'll all need clothes too."

"Underwear, shirts, one pair of pants each," Thorin said. "Should do. The vampires clearly have laundry machines."

The waiter, setting drinks down not far from them, startled and looked like he thought he misheard. "Socks," Dwalin added.

"I can't think of anything else we actually _need_ to get through the next couple of days," Dis said, nodding to the waiter as a cup of coffee was set in front of her.

"Socks, underwear, shirts, pants, food, microwave, instant coffee, electric kettle," Thorin listed off. "At least everyone except Gimli was already in their coats."

"So he'll need a coat," Balin said.  "But everything else should be covered by that list."

Thorin finally dropped his hands from his temples to inhale his coffee. "Alright," he said, glancing over at the table where Fili sat, his eyes glued to the news and Tilda on his lap.

Sigrid was listening to the conversations buzzing around her, glancing toward Fili and Tilda every so often as she used drew using the crayons and paper the waiter had brought for them.  She set down the red crayon having finished the design she was working on and looked at Ori across the table, trying to figure out what she wanted to ask, "Why did they call you the director?"

"Hm?" Ori asked, looking over.

"Of the movie that, well, it's pretty obvious it wasn't a movie.  Why did they make you the director?"

"I don't know, why did you?" he asked, looking over at Fili.

"Because you were the one to come up with that sorry excuse?" Fili offered. "And they were saying you looked like you didn't fit in the same movie."

“Well, he doesn't look like he fit in the same movie," Sigrid said.

"See?" Fili said. "That's why you were the director."

"Well," Ori paused and grinned. "I do tend to get people to do what I want." Fili rolled his eyes.

Dori huffed slightly at that, "Even if sometimes it's through sheer persistence."

Ori gave him a slightly guilty grin. "Oh. Me?"

Dori offered him a fondly exasperated glance, "Yes, you."

Bard hid his smile at that interaction by taking a drink of water, "Persistence can be a good thing."

Ori flickered a faint smile at him. "I dunno. You haven't been around us too long. Persistence or stubbornness becomes a relevant question here."

"How?"  Sigrid asked, tilting her head on one side.

"Because one is because you want something, the other because you just can't let it go," Ori said, and Fili was not looking at him or anyone else at the table.

"But when is it one and not the other?" Sigrid asked, "I mean, if you want something a lot, you can be stubborn about it."

"Well sure," Ori said. "But stubbornness often means just doing something to have it. I mean, you could have started out wanting it but by the time you get it, do you still?"

"Excuse me," Fili said abruptly, handing Tilda to Bard and rising.

Bard took Tilda, watching Fili leave and turning his attention to where Sigrid was protesting that you couldn't know, not until it happened.

"How old are you again?" Ori found himself asked, Bain sitting quietly by his sister.

"I'll be seven next month," Sigrid answered.

Ori looked at Dori. "Was I like this?"

Dori actually laughed, "Worse."

"Oh my god," Ori groaned, head in his hands. "Sorry?" He ached because there was only Dori to tell him that, and he wanted to hear Nori’s laugh so hard he almost got up and followed Fili just to give himself something to do with the jump in his chest. He carefully kept the same expression plastered on his face.

Dori shook his head, still smiling, "You wouldn't have been you without that stage.”

"Okay true, look at what you have to look forward to," Ori said, mostly to Sigrid though he was still staring at the table with his hands covering his eyes.

She shrugged slightly, "We're not the same person, so I'll end up something different."

Ori grinned at her before he looked at where Fili had disappeared. "Is he alright?" Sigrid asked, following the direction of Ori's gaze.

"I don't know," he admitted. "It's been... well. A long few months."

"Should someone check on him?" she asked glancing from Ori to her father and back.

"Not yet," Ori said and checked his watch. "If he's not back in five minutes."

Sigrid hesitated and then nodded, returning to her drawings.

Ori's eyes flickered to Bard as food finally arrived. Bard was sending intermittent glances toward where Fili had gone between the moments he spent addressing his children.

"You could go after him if you wanted," Ori offered.

Bard hesitated at that, before nodding, sliding Tilda off his lap, "Stay here with Ori and Dori, you three."  Sigrid nodded in acknowledgement.

"Sure, we're good protectors," Ori said, a little dubiously, even though he had suggested Bard leave in the first place.

Dori offered Bard a reassuring glance, "We'll be fine."

Bard hesitated for another moment but slipped away after Fili. He stood outside the diner, smoking and staring blankly across the street.

Bard pulled his coat closer about himself and moved over to stand next to Fili, "Food's arrived."

"Oh," he said, still smoking.

Falling silent and watching as a few cars went past, Bard slid his hands into his pockets and stayed where he was.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Fili asked after a beat.

Bard shook his head, "I just came to check on you. Tell you food was ready."

"I'm not a kid," Fili snapped.

Bard turned his head to look at Fili, "I know that."

Fili sucked in a lungful of air, before carefully letting it out. “Sorry.”

"Are you coming back in?" Bard asked after a moment.

"They tend not to want people smoking in restaurants, even ones as... low class as this," he said, waving the cigarette. "I just need... a few more minutes."

Bard nodded very slightly, "Alright."

Fili arched a brow over at him, blowing smoke away. "And how are you this morning?"

"Mostly awake, I think," Bard said with a faint smile.  "The coffee helped."

"Good," Fili nodded and took a deep breath, snuffing out the cigarette and flicking it into the trash can. "Alright."

Bard paused for a moment and then nodded, opening the door, holding it for Fili. Fili stared at him before shaking his head and slipping back inside, Tilda almost instantly moving back onto his lap when he sat down.

"You smell different," she said.

"Sorry," he returned automatically.

"What've you got there, Sigrid?" Bard asked.  His eldest daughter shrugged, folding up her drawing and putting it in her pocket.

Ori and Fili exchanged a look before shrugging it off, Ori eating as quickly as he could shovel food into his mouth.

"You... don't normally eat like this," Fili said after a beat and Ori shrugged.

"What does he usually eat like?" Sigrid asked, glancing between the two of them.

"With a few more table manners," Dori replied, arching an eyebrow at his younger brother.

"And a lot less," Fili said.

Ori looked sideways at him. "Magic."

"Ah," Fili said.

"It takes a lot of energy?" Sigrid asked.

"Apparently," he said. "I mean, yes, yes it does, but I'm not sure vampires remember the whole sleeping hungry thing when she was telling me all about the focus and stuff."

"The," Fili started and decided he did not actually need or want to know.

"The focus?"  Sigrid asked, her own food half forgotten.

Ori paused, looking from her to Dori and Bard. "Er. It's a magic thing. So you don't kill yourself. Basically," and he belatedly realized Dori might not have known about that.

Dori's expression didn't change much, but the slight twitch of his eyebrows was enough to let Ori know that they would be talking about that later.

"So using magic can--" Sigrid started, only to have Bard cut her off.

"Sigrid, finish your breakfast, darling." She glanced at her father and then nodded.

Ori looked like he wanted to bury his face in his hands again and went back to eating. "Well done," Fili said. "Have you let that bit slip to Dwalin yet?"

"I will hurt you."

"Who is Dwalin?" Sigrid asked

"That one," Fili pointed.

She looked over and blinked, "He has a lot of tattoos."

"Yes he does," Ori said, nose down to his food.

"He's rather an...intimidating presence," Bard said, sounding out the tone around Dwalin.

Both Fili and Ori stared at him, Ori's eyes darting up.

Dori looked at Bard, arching his eyebrows at him.  Bard glanced between them, "Is he not?"

"Uh," Ori started. "Well."

"He's actually practically kittens and rainbows?" Fili finished, one brow arched.

"Kittens and rainbows," Bard's words dripped skepticism.

"Comparatively," Fili shrugged. "Yeah?"

Bard still didn't look quite like he believed that.  Dori spoke, sipping at the tea he had ordered and grimacing, "He doesn't trust outsiders.  That's probably your difficulty with him."

"And he looks scary," Ori said. "But that's because you haven't seen him sitting very seriously on the floor holding yarn while you roll it into a ball."

"Or the piggy back rides," Fili added.

"Beorn's intimidating too, Da," Sigrid pointed out.

"Yes but--" he cut himself off and then nodded.  "You're right," his gaze moved to Ori and Fili, "and you two certainly know him better than I."

Ori stilled, looking away as he nodded slightly. “Yes,” he said, hand too tight around his fork and Fili poked around his plate before finally realizing how hungry he actually was.

“Finish quickly,” Thorin said, appearing at their table. “We need to leave soon.”

“You can’t put off Wal-Mart forever,” Ori added, almost sing song and Fili kicked him under the table.


	31. You've always chosen me before

 Beorn stood with Gandalf outside the vampire mansion, watching the hunters approach. "Good to see you all," Gandalf said, looking for once small in the shadow of Beorn’s bulk.

"Beorn!"  Sigrid darted away from where she'd been walking next to Fili and rushed to meet the skin-changer.

Dis looked both of the men over, focusing on Gandalf, "So you've decided to arrive today as well?  Two days with sightings of you, seems a rarity."

Gandalf arched an unimpressed brow at her as Beorn scooped Sigrid up. Sigrid looped one arm around Beorn's neck and pulled out the drawing she'd done, swirls of different colors combining and then colored in so that flowers could be seen in it, "For you."

"Thank you," he said, quite seriously and trying not to look too relieved  as Ori looked at Fili. "I'm glad to see you."

"I'm glad you can change back," she informed him frankly. “On your own, especially.”

"Believe me honey, so am I. However, I tend not to keep clothes through a transformation, so I hope you'll forgive me for this morning."

She nodded quickly, "I forgive you."

Balin spoke from where he stood near his brother, "It's a bit chilly to have all this talk out here, maybe inside?"

Beorn nodded, still holding Sigrid up as he turned to lead the way inside.

"Ah good, you're all back," Celeborn said, descending the stairs as soon as the front door was closed again.

"Yes," Thorin agreed, Kili approaching Fili from where he had been sitting cross legged against the wall next to the door. "Has there been any new news?"

"No, though Elrond's been monitoring reports to see if anything has changed.  We're set up in the first floor parlor there," Celeborn answered, motioning toward the room.  Dis' gaze focused on Fili and Kili and she frowned ever so slightly.

"Oh well, if you set up a parlor," Gandalf said, breezing past as Beorn tilted his head back to consider the house.

Celeborn rolled his eyes and shook his head before following Gandalf, "We thought it would be the easiest place to fit everyone." He glanced back toward Beorn, sizing him up, "It still ought to be."

"I can always turn back into a bear and roar if that would make things more difficult," Beorn said, unconcerned and Kili did a double take on him.

"What?"

Bofur bit back a laugh at that even as Celeborn suppressed what might have been a faint smile.  The ancient vampire glanced at Beorn and shook his head, "No, I think your current form is adequate."

"Oh good," Beorn said. "Because I have a lot of trouble replacing clothes that way. This is a nice place you have here. Have to kill anyone to get it?"

"We built it ourselves," Galadriel said.

"Must have cost quite a bit," Bard murmured, considering the architecture.

"Let's just say that years of good investments can provide much," Celeborn said, lips curling.

"And good knowledge of house building," Galadriel said, resting a hand lightly on Celeborn's arm.

He offered her a glance that was filled with affection, "That as well."

Balin cleared his throat, "Delightful as this all is, we really should talk about what we're doing going forward."

"Yes," Beorn agreed and looked at Sigrid. "Do you guys have a room, some place to go?"

She nodded, "Yes, we're staying upstairs with Da."

"Why don't you kids go back up there and wait for a while?" Beorn asked.

She hesitated and then nodded, "You'll say goodbye before you go?"

"Yes," he said. "Promise."

"Good," she nodded firmly as he set her down and, taking Tilda's hand and making certain Bain was following started up the stairs.

"But," Tilda started, Bain taking her other hand and remaining quiet.

Bard watched them go, looking like he'd rather see them safely to the room himself.

“They'll be fine," Beorn said and paused, looking at the vampires. " _Won't_ they?"

"Please," Erestor said, sweeping down the stairs, passing them. "We do not kill children. It's not enough of a meal, to start."

Bard startled at that, his focus narrowing in on Erestor, " _What_?"

Erestor gave him a frustrated look, already moving away. "What?" he asked. "We are not about to eat your children, stop looking like they're going to die the instant they're out of your sight."

"They very nearly did last night, excuse me for being a bit protective of them in a house of vampires right now," Bard snapped.

"It is unlikely demons would enter this house," Erestor said, the corners of his eyes tight.

Bard's jaw tensed but he bit back anything he was thinking of saying at the glance Glorfindel gave him from a step behind Erestor.

"To business," Erestor snapped, already moving away and Fili glanced between Bard and the vampire before following.

As they entered the room, Elrond switched the television off from where he'd been flipping between channels and had paused briefly on a televangelist going on about sinners and punishment and the abyss of hell.  He shook his head, muttering, "What do you know, the religious fanatics are almost right this time."

"Except for the whole divine punishment thing," Elrohir said, his eyes lighting up when he caught sight of Ori.

Gandalf scowled at the blank television. "Sure, they are almost right except of course for the _why_ of this hell."

"They're still more accurate than the news at the moment, tragically enough," Elrond replied.

"How so?" Gandalf asked, turning his eyes over as Ori went and huddled between Elladan and Elrohir.

"The news is still trying to figure out what to call the situation," Elrond answered, his gaze flicking to where Dori had made an abortive grab for his brother.

"Well, at least they're acknowledging it looks like demons," Fili said. "This morning things were more hysteric, admittedly."

"And really they're giving the best advice they can in this situation, even if they don't know exactly what it is," Bard said after a moment.

"Get the fuck out of town?" Fili offered, looking over.

"Well, we don't have that option," Thorin said quietly, still standing near the door.

Celeborn nodded very slightly, motioning to the chairs and couches scattered around the room, "We had best discuss what happens next then."

"What is there to discuss?" Thorin asked. "We fight. Do we know when and where the next portal is opening?"

Erestor tensed, shoulders hunched as he looked down at table and his notes.

"Yes," Elrond said, glancing toward where Glorfindel was hovering by Erestor's shoulder.

"And we're certain of it?" Dis confirmed.

"Yes," Erestor ground out.

"Why were you not at the last portal?" Gandalf asked, looking over and if possible Erestor became even more still.

Glorfindel grit his teeth, but didn't say anything.  Dis turned her head enough to look at Gandalf, "We were misinformed about the place."

"Yes," Erestor grit out.

Gandalf tilted his head, considering the vampire. "You missed the outlier, didn't you? The portals are opened at sights of power."

"Which we could know nothing about," Erestor said. "Our memories are old but not infallible and we have hardly lived in this town very long."

"And it's not as though you were forthcoming with the information you had," Glorfindel said, looking at Gandalf, his voice carrying a sharp edge.

"I thought you were going to be there," Gandalf said. "You had handled the other portals well enough."

"So sorry to disappoint," Erestor said.

Glorfindel crossed his arms to keep himself from touching Erestor's shoulder at that, figuring it wouldn't be appreciated.  Elrohir spoke from where he was half curled around Ori, "It got closed, which is what matters most isn't it?"

"Most," Gandalf shook his head. "Perhaps. But there are scores of demons in the street and it was open for... a long time. Far longer then I'm comfortable with."

"What is that likely to mean for the next portal?" Balin asked, eyes darting from Gandalf to the vampires and then back.

"Well that there is going to be chaos for the next several days, and that any demons still in the area will likely answer the call of whatever comes out of that portal," Gandalf said, crossing his arms.

"Will it change the timeline at all?" Celeborn asked, looking to Erestor rather than Gandalf, though he mostly expected the answer to come from Gandalf.

"No," Erestor said, tense, even as he looked at Gandalf who nodded. "Fantastic. I'm being reaffirmed as a functional source of information now."

"Erestor," Glorfindel murmured, not entirely sure what he planned to say.

"Will you at least be certain to make sure we all know where the portal is this time?" Erestor asked, waving at Glorfindel instead of looking at him.

"Yes," Gandalf said, picking up the smaller map that Erestor had thrown on the table earlier, his various calculations done in red around the other portals, and the faint red dot on the Hunter's house he had discarded earlier. "You do seem to have got this one."

"And where is it this time?"Dori asked, finally pulling his attention away from where Elladan and Elrohir were curled around Ori.

"Midnight, ah, Christmas day, I suppose," Erestor said, amending the statement from Christmas Eve. "At," he frowned. "The middle of downtown."

Elrond moved over to frown at the map, "What on earth is there that would draw a portal?"

Elrohir craned his neck to see the marks without leaving his spot with Ori and Elladan, "There's a nightclub on that block."

"Of course there is, and of course you would know that," Erestor said, rubbing his temples. "It was too much to hope people might not be there at midnight."

Gandalf frowned at the spot. "Perhaps," he started and stopped, looking at Galadriel. "If an artifact of power had been there a long time."

"Or some other thing we do not know about," she said, and her expression broke from her usual facade to look worried. "The only sort of artifact that could draw that much power..."

Elrond turned his head to look at them both with dawning horror in his eyes, "You don't actually think... _here_?"

Erestor's eyes darted between them.

"Okay," Fili said. "What did we miss?"

"What has you so worried?" Thorin demanded. "What other thing are you hiding from us? Or is it simply not _relevant_ to us?"

Standing near the door, Beorn crossed his arms in confusion.

Elrond barely heard Thorin, his focus on Galadriel and Gandalf, "That was _lost_.  Eons ago.  There's no plausible way for it to have ended up here.  The world has not shifted so much as that."

"But the world has changed much and an object of such power could have passed over seas and under stone in the centuries since that fall," Celeborn countered.

"Any chance of lettin' those of us not in the know in on what you're talking about?" Bofur asked, brow furrowing.

Galadriel seemed to snap out of the conversation first, turning to the hunters. "There is perhaps one artifact that if it was found here, could spell disaster even worse than this."

"And what," Thorin asked. "Would that artifact be?"

"It would have to be deeply buried if it was here," Elrond said.  "Deeper than the goblins even."

"But it could have been," Gandalf said.

"What?" Thorin snapped, losing patience.

Elrond rubbed the third finger of his left hand between the second and third joints, glancing at Galadriel for guidance as to how specific they should be in their answer.

"There is another demon, worse than Smaug," Galadriel said. "He has been banished to hell for a long time, but if he returned, he would be worse. Smaug may simply want to devour the world, and he might well succeed but entirely probably he would only manage to eat a small portion of the world. The other one..." she trailed off. "He poured his malice and power into a simple artifact and left it on this world when he was banished."

"And you think that artifact ended up here?" Elrohir asked, glancing from Galadriel to Elrond and back. It was the first time he or his brother had heard of it.

"It's possible," Gandalf said. "It would be a gold ring. Simple, in its evil."

"A gold ring?  That's it?" Dis sounded skeptical.

Elrond let his gaze drift toward her, "Dangerously innocuous in appearance."

"It corrupts whoever wears it," Gandalf said. "It is simple to tempt the unwary."

"And you think it ended up where the next portal is opening," Bard confirmed, arms crossed loosely over his chest.

"It's possible," Gandalf said. "I have sensed... disquieting things."

"We're sure Smaug's the worst thing that will come out of this portal?" Balin asked.

"This one? Yes,” Gandalf nodded.

"There's not much more we can do to prepare for this next portal, is there?" Dori half stated, looking to the others around the room.

"We can kill all the demons we can in the meantime," Galadriel said.

"Beyond that," Dori said, trying not to sound irritable.

"Have you done anything else to prepare for all the other portals beside that?" she asked, tone deceptively mild.

“The others haven't been the one we _know_ the destroyer is due to emerge from," Dis said.

"Aside from that, there is nothing so different about this portal," Erestor said, shoulders still tense. It had never been more obvious the vampires were not human as when he stood so still without breathing.

Dis spared him a glance before turning her attention back to Galadriel, "Then have we anything else to discuss at the moment?"

"Apparently not," Galadriel said after a moment of staring at her.

Balin glanced at Dis and then at Thorin, frowning very slightly.  He cleared his expression and offered Galadriel a bow, "Thank you for opening your home to us."

She twitched a brow up, looking like she was considering saying something else before inclining her head. "Indeed," she murmured.

Celeborn's expression was unimpressed at the comments, but he kept his peace on what he thought about the hunters' words, "Let us know if there is anything we might do to make you more comfortable."

Standing close to the door, Bifur rattled something off in his creaky voice, arms crossed over his chest from where he stood as far away from the vampires as he could in the room.

"That was rude," Erestor said, barely looking up from the map.

Bofur startled at Erestor's words and looked toward the vampire, "You understood him?"

Blinking up, Erestor frowned at Bofur and realized everyone was staring at him. "What?"

Bofur took a step closer, sparing a glance to make sure Bombur was with Bifur, "My cousin.  You understood him."

"I am assuming that is rare," Erestor said after a beat and Bifur stared at him. "Ah," Erestor said after a beat. "The head wound."

Bofur nodded slightly, "We haven't understood what he's saying since the accident."

"Ah," Erestor said. "It was mystical, I assume? The wound I mean?"

"Yes," Bombur said quietly as Bifur shot out another stream of what everyone had assumed was gibberish.

Erestor's brow just twitched up. "Swearing at a time like this. _Really_?"

“ _How_ do you understand him?" Bofur asked, looking back toward his cousin again even though he was still speaking to Erestor.

"It's an old language," Erestor said. "Very lost, very dead."

"But--" Bofur broke off, looking briefly lost at that.

Erestor shrugged. "Portals to hell are opening and you're surprised by that?"

"Well, it," Bofur trailed off, shrugging and unable to articulate how hell portals were so big but this was personal.

Erestor made a quiet sound before shaking his head, shuffling his map and pushing himself to his feet. "At any rate," he said. "I have work to do."

"Don't overwork yourself to exhaustion," Gandalf said, tone mild but Erestor stiffened.

"Good advice for all of us," Elrond said, glancing toward where Glorfindel's jaw and hands tensed at Gandalf's words and Erestor's reaction.

"I'll be sure not to," Erestor ground out and left. Glorfindel closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, opening them again and following Erestor quickly.

"Somehow I don't think that was a smart thing to say," Elladan remarked and Gandalf tilted his head back to look at him.

"You mean because Erestor's more likely to do it now?" Elrohir asked, glancing at his twin.

Elladan sighed, only shaking his head slightly. "He's not really the type to relax and not take this personally, is he?" Ori asked after a beat.

"Not at all," Elrohir agreed with a shrug.  "It's Erestor."

"Ah," Ori said, as if that really did explain anything as he watched Kili and Fili.

Bard glanced around the room, managing to briefly catch Fili's eye before he slipped out, touching Beorn's elbow as he left to check on the kids.

"Is there anything else?" Thorin asked after a beat, looking around at the vampires and already heading for the door.

Arching an eyebrow at Thorin, Celeborn shook his head ever so slightly, "No, I believe that was everything we needed to speak of."

"We'll trade off patrols," Thorin said. "We can take the daylight hours, and you the night." He could already feel Kili start to open his mouth. "On rotation," Thorin added. "Subject to negotiation."

Celeborn nodded very slightly, glancing at Galadriel as he responded, "Agreed.  We'll negotiate that as we proceed."

Thorin nodded, heading out the door and going for the front door. Dwalin opened his mouth before closing it again. Dis frowned at her brother's departure, but cleared her expression as the rest of the group began to filter away back to their rooms or other activities.

"I'm going back to sleep," Ori declared to no one in particular. "Fili?"

"No," he shook his head, dark circles under his eyes and Ori sighed.

"Tauriel and I were going to work on my archery if you want to join us, Kili," Arwen said, watching Fili and Kili from her place near Galadriel, and already knowing his answer.

"No," Kili said, the lines around Fili's eyes tightening slightly.

Arwen pursed her lips, but nodded very slightly, "Well, you know where to find us."  She inclined her head to Galadriel and Celeborn and slipped away quietly.

"I'm going to head out on the first patrol," Dwalin said abruptly. "Fili. Dori."

Dori blinked once, pulling his attention away from Elladan and Elrohir and the way they moved around Ori, and nodded slightly.

Across the room, Kili's eyes narrowed like he was about to snap something, before Fili nodded and moved over to Dwalin. "Let me just get my new phone," he said, heading for the stairs.

Elrohir tipped his head to one side, considering Dwalin from where he was still half-curled around Ori, murmuring in Ori's ear, "Is he always so efficiently and effectively astute?"

"Yes," Ori said, tense and flicking a hand against Elrohir's face to get him away from his ear. Elrohir wrinkled his nose at that motion but drew back slightly. "Why?" Ori asked after a breath.

"Just not something I've grown accustomed to with the other hunters," Elrohir said, barely audible.  "You being an exception."

"Some of us have awareness," Ori muttered after a second. "Even, uh, Fili, sometimes."

Elrohir hummed, "Yes, but he's also effective with it.  I suppose that comes with practice."

"And an age most of us don't get," Ori said, his expression darkening

Elrohir paused at that, but nodded, deciding it was better not to say anything more on that subject.

Ori blinked and shook his head, disentangling himself from the vampires. "I'm going back to sleep."

"Sleep well," Elrohir murmured, glancing at Elladan and watching Ori go.

"That was smooth," Elladan remarked after a beat, as most of the others had already left the room. "I don't know if I mean you or him."

"I don't recall asking you," Elrohir said, trying not to grimace.

"Brother, you never need to ask me," Elladan said, though his posture had straightened and tensed.

Elrohir closed his eyes for a brief moment, "That wasn't what I meant."

"It's fine," Elladan shrugged.

Elrohir looked him over, considering that for a moment and then nodded, "If you say so."

-0-

Striding after him, Kili grabbed Fili by the arm and yanked him back around. "You don't have to go out."

"Why?" Fili asked. "Because you can't?"

"Because you're still sick," Kili said, eyes too intent. "Because you probably aren't well enough."

"I'm fine," Fili snapped, trying to pull his arm back and stilling when Kili's grip did not relent. He tried not to show how aware he was that Kili's hand was barely above his left wrist, dangerously close to the bones of his hand.

"You're not careful enough," Kili shot back."

"And you think Dwalin and Dori aren't going to watch my back? Or are you the only one good enough for that now?

"I've always watched your back," Kili said, voice low.

"And you don't have to today," Fili said, tugging his arm again to see if Kili would let go yet.

He did not.

"Or is this because you're too damned worried you won't be there to turn me?" Fili hissed and that caused Kili to abruptly let him go in shock. Fili cradled his wrist to his chest, trying to pass it off at the last instant as crossing his arms.

"You aren't careful," Kili said, staring at him unblinking. "You _know_ you aren't."

"I can be," Fili returned and something shifted in the air between them.

"Why did you shave your beard?" Kili asked.

"What?" Fili blinked, trying to process what felt like a non-sequitur. "Because I wanted a change," he answered without thinking about it.

"A change?" Kili echoed, shifting closer and Fili tried not to take a step back. "So soon after I asked you...?"

Fili took a solid step back then and hated how obviously it portrayed his fear, slinking ice cold down his spine. "I didn't--I just needed s-something small. While I sort out the big things."

"Which you're still sorting," Kili said, taking a step forward.

"Yes," Fili admitted, then, "I have to go."

He almost bolted for the door except Kili still beat him there, not quite slamming it closed. "Why can't you answer me?"

"Because I'm still deciding," Fili said, staring at the door instead of his brother who was blocking it.

" _Why_?" Kili demanded. "Why is it so hard--"

"I can't believe you're asking me that," Fili said faintly, eyes still trained on the door and Kili snarled. Swallowing hard, Fili refused to move his eyes, even as he caught from the corner that Kili was shifting.

"You've always chosen me before," Kili said and a low sound wrung out of Fili's throat. Kili took a step sideways, toward him and away from the door and Fili feinted around him and for the door handle.

"You said I had at least three more days," he said, when Kili's mouth curled, becoming a snarl. "I have to go," and he actually ran.

-0-

Bilbo's apartment complex, due to its location nearer to downtown than to the housing developments, had escaped unscathed from the portal opening. The fae had split his day since the sun had risen, and he had been assured of Thorin and the others' survival, dividing his time between his kitchen, half-hovering over his plants, and sitting on the couch, turning the gold ring over and over in his hands.  By the time Thorin knocked on his front door, he was nearly ready to go search for the other himself.

 "I am sorry," Thorin said, when the door opened, bags under his eyes and hair askew. "It has been a busy morning."

"No, no don't apologize.  I'm just glad to see you," Bilbo said, waving him in and closing the door behind him.  The apartment smelled like the soufflé he had cooking, with a hint of the bread he had baked before the sun came up.  He stretched up to brush Thorin's hair away from his brow.

Thorin raised a heavy hand to touch Bilbo's fingers. "Have you been cooking?" he asked, before the idea seemed foreign to him somehow.

Bilbo nodded slightly, "Yeah, I, it's the time of year, and well, I didn't know what else to do this morning.  It kept me from drowning the plants."

"The time of year?" Thorin asked for lack of a better thing to focus on.

"Yule.  Back home they'll have just finished with the neighbors' meal which was yesterday, or rather last night, I suppose."

"Oh," Thorin said, voice dropping at the reminder. "Fae celebrate Yule?"

"It's the closest term over here.  Solstice more than anything.  Longest night of the year, peak of winter," Bilbo shrugged slightly, tugging at his shirt sleeves.

Thorin let out a long breath. He had called Bilbo a few times the night before, to say the portal was closed and he was alive, and to report in when the morning came. But so much had happened he had not had the time to explain. "Longest night of the year," he echoed instead. "God fucking _damn_ solstice."

"You all made it through alright?"  Bilbo confirmed, watching Thorin carefully.

"Yes," he nodded. "Alive, anyway."

Some tension eased in Bilbo's shoulders at that, "Good.  Alive is something at least."

"It is something," Thorin said and sagged forward against Bilbo more.

"Have you slept at all?" Bilbo asked, fingers curling at the back of Thorin's neck and guided them both to the couch.

"Yes," he said. "This morning. After the sun had come up."

"You look like you could use another day solid of it," Bilbo remarked.

"Probably," Thorin agreed. "But there is not the time for it."

Bilbo hummed at that, "When is the next portal?"

"Christmas," he said, curling his spine to be closer to Bilbo on the couch.

Leaning closer to Thorin and letting himself focus on Thorin's heartbeat, Bilbo's eyes slipped closed, "That's not very long.  You're staying here, yes?"

"I can," Thorin said after a beat. "I would rather."

"Then you are," Bilbo said firmly, nodding once.

-0-

"So what makes you want to learn the bow anyway?" Tauriel asked, watching Arwen try to draw back the bowstring. "You're elbow is too low, by the way."

Arwen lifted her elbow, sighting along the arrow and muttering under her breath when the arrow slipped away from the body of the bow, "I just, I prefer the distance.  It's also something that doesn't have to be for a fight exactly."

"You aren't going to be able to master this enough to kill demons in three days," Tauriel remarked, trying to sound kindly.

"And I know that.  But even if we close this portal, the chance that this is the end of things isn't high," Arwen said quietly.

"True," Tauriel said and reached forward. "Here. Hold it like this."

Arwen focused on the way Tauriel moved her hands to rest in a different place on the bow, drawing the arrow back again, "I can't believe how little time is left before the final portal."

"Final portal for this particular demon," Tauriel pointed out.

Arwen made a discontent sound at that, but nodded, "Yes, for this particular demon. It's going to be tighter quarters than the last portals have been."

"Probably," Tauriel agreed, still watching her. "Though didn't you fight in an alley too?"

"Yes, but it wasn't at a portal opening, and there weren't civilians," Arwen answered with a glance.  Making sure her hands and elbows were correct she drew back the string and let fly.

"Not bad," Tauriel remarked, as it hit the edge of the target. "You didn't get the wall, at any rate."

Drawing another arrow, Arwen sighted along it and then lowered the bow at a quiet knock on the door.  She tilted her head slightly in that direction, "One of the living. There's a heartbeat."

"Try that shot again," Tauriel said. "You have to relax yourself."

Arwen nodded, raising the bow and taking a deep breath to release the tension in her shoulders and let the arrow fly again.

Tauriel opened the door, before turning back around to see where the arrow had landed. "Good," she said before focusing on the human in front of her.

Sigrid looked up at her and smiled, "Hi, do you mind if I come in and watch?" Tauriel raised her brows, looking back at Arwen as if to confirm that.

Arwen glanced toward the door and shrugged slightly, nodding, "Does your father know where you are?"

Sigrid gave a half shrug and nod, "Yes?"

"Interesting," Tauriel said after a beat. "You're welcome to do what you wish."

Sigrid offered another bright smile and slipped inside past Tauriel, "Thank you."

Tauriel nodded, a crease between her brows at this.

Arwen's lips curved up into a small smile, "How do you like your room?"

Sigrid glanced at Tauriel and then back to Arwen, "It's good.  There's four of us in it, but it's good."

"Wouldn't you rather be at your house?" Tuariel asked. "Or out of town?"

"We can't stay in our house," Sigrid answered.  "Not right now.  Fili killed three demons in the kitchen and one of our dressers got broken when he killed more upstairs."

"And out of town?" Arwen asked.

"Nowhere to go."

"Fili," Tauriel repeated. "The blond hunter right?" she asked, already knowing the answer. "You know him pretty well then?"

Sigrid nodded, "He stayed with us while he was sick."

"Do you like him?" Tauriel asked, because Kili's devotion still confused her.

Sigrid considered the question for a long moment, "I think so.  He's nice.  Da likes him.  And so does Tilda.  Tilda _really_ likes him."

"He seems to inspire that in certain people," Tauriel said, turning back to Arwen, looking from her to the target. "You're not doing so well with aiming."

Arwen offered a sheepish look at that before readjusting her stance and her focus again.

Sigrid sat down against the wall by the door, "Do you have brothers or sisters? How does that work?"

"Didn't when I was human," Tauriel said, and reached forward, bumping Arwen's elbow up with one hand. "Vampires... we call the people turned by the same vampire who turned us brother or sister sometimes."

Arwen adjusted, drawing a breath and releasing it as she let the arrow fly, "I had two older siblings and three younger when I was human.  And now I've got two older brothers, sort of."

Sigrid thought about that and then nodded, "Oh, okay."

"It depends, really, on what you want to make of it," Tauriel shrugged. "Tradition be damned."

Arwen smiled at that, lowering the bow and going to fetch her arrows, "You're the oldest?"

Sigrid nodded, "Uh-huh.  Bain's a year and a half younger and Tilda is almost four years younger."

Tauriel snorted. "So what. You go to school and stuff right? I mean, you are that age?"

The girl nodded, drawing her knees up to rest her arms on them, "Yeah. We're on break because of Christmas right now."

Tauriel looked over to Arwen because she had no idea what to talk to a human child about. "And. Uh. Why did you come here anyway?"

Arwen's lips quirked up, not quite ready to rescue Tauriel from the conversation.  Sigrid tilted her head to one side, "At the house?  Fili.  How long have you been a vampire?"

"I meant the room, here, with us," Tauriel said. "And, uh, about two hundred years."

"Oh," Sigrid shifted, sitting cross-legged and leaning forward a bit, "You're pretty and I wanted to know what you're like more."  That startled a laugh from Arwen which she quickly tried to hide in a cough.

Tauriel blinked rapidly at her, because it felt like that meant something different, coming from a child then what she was used to. "Uh. Thank you?"

Sigrid nodded, smiling, "You're welcome."  She glanced toward where Arwen was drawing the bow again, "Archery?  Da's been working on remembering the bow again."

"Is he any good?" Tauriel asked, for lack of a better thing to say.

"I think he is," Sigrid answered, but shrugged.  "But I don't know for sure, he doesn't let us watch when he practices."

Tauriel paused. "But he was okay with you watching us?"

"He doesn't know where I thought I'd find you," Sigrid answered.

"So," Tauriel paused, turning the conversation over in her head. "He was okay with you hanging out with vampires, but not being around bows and arrows?"

"He had the range set up in the basement.  It's harder to stay out of the way down there," Sigrid said, shrugging.  "I didn't say Da made sense.

Tauriel looked at Sigrid and turned to Arwen, tilting her head before looking back at Sigrid. "Hey, you wanna learn too?"

Sigrid blinked wide eyes up at her at that question, "Really?"

"If she offered it, she means it," Arwen assured.

"Is there a bow I can learn on?" Sigrid asked, looking skeptically at the one Arwen was holding.

"I'll look," Tauriel said. "I started learning around your age," she added over her shoulder.

Sigrid smiled brightly, "Thank you."

"Yeah, well," Tauriel muttered, sorting through the bows.

"Why did you learn the bow and arrow?" Sigrid asked, getting to her feet and moving over to where Tauriel was.

"Because I was restless and needed something to do," Tauriel said. "Horse riding, shooting. These were at least somewhat acceptable. Running away and joining the navy, meanwhile..."

"When was that?  You wanted to join the navy?"

"1800s," Tauriel said. "The navy was sorta England's thing, you know? It was far over romanticized hype, as it turns out."

"You're English?" Sigrid turned slightly to look at Arwen, "What about you?"

"French.  Late 1700s, but before the United States became a country," the dark-haired vampire answered.

"We're not that far off, basically," Tauriel said. "I mean, age wise. France and England might as well have been worlds apart at that time."

"It's a lot of years though," Sigrid said, frowning in confusion.

"But not for vampires," Arwen said, checking her stance as she drew her bow back.

"Yeah," Tauriel said. "But the nice thing is it makes you more open minded." Tauriel waited until Arwen fired before continuing. "I mean, I was just at France. It's not really that bad, though the French sure are whiny."

Arwen huffed a laugh, "You think that because the English have a stick up--" she broke off with a glance at Sigrid, "Well."

"I'm not so sure a stick is my problem," Tauriel shot back.

Arwen grinned, setting her bow down long enough to pull her hair that had come loose into a messy knot at the base of her skull, "Perhaps not."

Tauriel smirked at her before she cleared her throat and handed Sigrid the bow she found. "This might still be a little too big. You'll grow into it."

Sigrid curled her hand around the body of the bow, wide eyed as she looked over it, "Thank you."

"Here," Tauriel said, shifting it slightly in her hands. "You should hold it here."

Sigrid adjusted her hand placement and looked up at Tauriel, "Are you two related?  Like vampires can be?"

"No," Tauriel said. "Different lines. Mine's sorta the interlopers of the clan. Well, and Erestor. Nobody knows where the--uh. Nobody knows exactly where he came from."

"Did you hear he spoke to that one hunter no one can understand?" Arwen asked over her shoulder.

"Yeah," Tauriel huffed. "All casual like too. I wonder if he didn't even notice what language he was speaking." She looked back at Sigrid, adjusting her grip again. "Okay, like this. Just try holding it for a while, really feel the way the bow fits with you. When you're ready, try pulling the string back a few times. We'll work our way up to an arrow, okay?"

Sigrid nodded her agreement, focusing on the bow and instructions.  Arwen glanced at Tauriel, smiling faintly, "If so it says probably more about Erestor than anything else I've ever heard."

Tauriel snorted. "Really? You've lived with him longer."

"I wasn't here prior to the destruction after Glorfindel though.  Everyone else has that reference point of 'oh he did this thing' and he plays everything so close you know?"  Arwen said.

"I suppose he does," Tauriel admitted after a beat.

"Which one is he?" Sigrid asked, still holding the bow, letting her other hand rest against the string but not pulling it yet.

"Dark hair, glower, the one who said eating kids isn't classy," Tauriel replied.

"Oh," Sigrid said, pausing again.  "I liked him."

The arrow Arwen was firing went wide of its mark as she startled at that definitive response, "Really?"

Sigrid nodded firmly, "He's honest."

"That," Tauriel blinked and hat to laugh. "Okay. He is."

"Da doesn't like him much," Sigrid confided, earning a laugh from Arwen.

"No, I can't see him caring all that much for Erestor, considering."

"His honestly is pretty brutal. Like a truck running you over. Most people don't like him," Tauriel said, and corrected Arwen's stance okay. "Okay, now breathe out when you fire."

Arwen nodded slightly, following the instruction and taking her time with her next shot.  Sigrid watched the two of them, "Well, yes, but it's better than lying."

"True," Tauriel said. "You'll learn, I guess, people like lying to themselves. They like sh--stuff to be sugar coated. He doesn't. It works for him, and for some people. Just doesn't make him liable to win any popularity contests either."

"He doesn't want to, though, does he?" Sigrid asked.

Arwen shook her head slightly, "Not in all the years I've known him."

"Then honest is better than popular," the girl decided.

"Hell," Tauriel muttered. "He might even end up liking _you_."

“You think so?" Sigrid asked, looking up at Tauriel again.

"Maybe. It's sorta hard to tell with him."

"After all, he likes Glorfindel, and there are two people I never would have expected," Arwen said, lips curving upward as she glanced at Tauriel.

"People like what they like," Tauriel returned.

"Do you think it surprised them to figure that out?" Arwen asked as she lined up another shot.

"What, that they liked each other?" Tauriel asked, watching her.

"Yes.  They're so different, after all," she paused and then corrected her own stance before drawing a breath and releasing on the exhale.

"I think, from what I can piece together, Glorfindel seduced him," Tauriel replied. "So I don't know. Maybe it surprised Erestor though, the whole way through."

"Glorfindel?" Sigrid asked, finally starting to pull back the string of the bow.

"The blond one who came down with Erestor."

"Long hair," Tauriel said, and gestured from the nape of her neck down to her waist.

"Oh, him," Sigrid thought about that for a minute and then nodded rather than say anything else.

Tauriel's eyes darted to Arwen as she tried not to laugh. Arwen was trying, and failing to hide a smile, "What did you think of him?"

Sigrid shrugged, "I don't know.  He didn't say anything."

"He's one of those people that sometimes don't have to," Tauriel said.

"I didn't see much of him," Sigrid said.

Arwen gave up completely on suppressing her smile, though it was gentle, "You saw enough of Erestor."

"Well, he said something."

Tauriel gave up and buried her head in her hands, shoulders shaking with laughter for a few moments. Once she got it under control, she looked back up. "Okay. What about the lady Galadriel, Arwen's particular favorite?"

Sigrid's eyes lit up, "She's beautiful.  And dangerous."  She turned to Arwen, "Your favorite?"

"She's my grandmother, or the vampire equivalent," Arwen said.  "She means very much to me."

"You have a pretty good instinct," Tauriel said.

Sigrid looked between Arwen and Tauriel, "Really?"

Arwen nodded her agreement, "You just need some practice with it.  It'll get better with time."

"But you see people," Tauriel said. "She's grace and danger. Erestor is as blunt as a truck. It's good."

Sigrid frowned at the bow in her hands, stilling for a long moment before finally asking, "What do you think about Fili's brother?"

"What about him?" Tauriel asked.

"Do you like him?" She asked quietly, something in her tone making Arwen lower her bow and set it aside.

"Yes," Tauriel said, quietly. "But that doesn't mean he doesn't worry me."

Sigrid thought about that answer for a long minute before turning to face Tauriel fully, "Why?  Why do you like him?  Why does he worry you?"

"Yes," Tauriel said, quietly. "But that doesn't mean he doesn't worry me."

Sigrid thought about that answer for a long minute before turning to face Tauriel fully, "Why?  Why do you like him?  Why does he worry you?"

Tauriel looked one more time at Arwen. "I'll tell you when you’re older," she decided finally.

"Promise?" Sigrid asked.

"Yeah," Tauriel replied easily.

The girl paused and then nodded, "Okay."


	32. I Thought I Would Die Like This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's not dead!
> 
> This story and your authors!
> 
> We just uh took a break and forgot to warn anyone but October seems like the right time to get back into this story right?

Fili laid on his back on the bed in Bard's room. He had not meant to stay there since Bard and the children were somewhere else in the house, but he had sneaked in the back door and missed Kili on his way there.

The door opened and Bard stepped into the room, freezing for a moment as he realized someone was there before recognizing Fili. He closed the door and paused for a moment, "Fili?"

Fili startled awake from where he had fallen into a half sleep, exhaustion catching up to him again. "Sorry," he said, propping himself up on his elbows and blinking blearily.

"No, no it's fine. I just wasn't really expecting you in here." Bard shook his head, "Sorry to wake you."

"Sorry, fuck, I didn't mean to fall asleep," Fili said, shaking his head slightly.

"Really, it's fine," Bard repeated. "You look like you could use it."

"I," Fili shrugged. "Probably did. Still, sorry." He rubbed his eyes and sat cross legged on the edge of the bed.

Bard settled down on the chair near the door that he had slept in the night before, "What are you doing in here?"

"I was hiding," Fili admitted. "I," and he paused, because he had wanted to talk to Bard but at the same time all his words had deserted him.

"From your brother?" Bard leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and raking his fingers through his hair.

“Yeah," Fili said, not even pausing.

"He...seems worse than last time I encountered him," Bard said after a moment.

"He is," Fili agreed. "I think. Sort of. It's more... obvious." He shrugged, raking his fingers through his hair before letting his hands fall back in his lap.

Bard paused, looking at the floor between them, "There's not a lot of places in this house to hide."

"No," Fili said. "And he knows it better then I do. I still shouldn't--" and he stopped, looking at Bard.

"As long as it works you can use this room as a retreat," Bard said, glancing up and then back down.

Fili pursed his lips. "It's something I guess," he said.

Bard looked up to meet Fili's eyes again, "It's not ideal, I know."

"You probably shouldn't have come," Fili said after a beat.

"No, probably not," Bard allowed.

"It's more dangerous for you then I first thought," Fili said. "And I just--"

"Neither of us knew how dangerous this was going to actually be," Bard said, but he had been thinking the same thing since they had arrived. "And you just?"

“Put you in danger," Fili said. "More danger."

"Fili," he said quietly, but shook his head knowing there wasn't an argument he could make there.

Fili rubbed his eyes. "And you kissed me and followed me."

Bard paused for a long moment, clasping his hands together, elbows still resting on his knees, "Yes."

"I," Fili started and paused. "What happened, to their mom?"

Bard fell still, "Breast cancer. She was diagnosed when she was pregnant with Tilda."

"When she..." Fili blinked. "That... isn't that young?" he knew it happened, but dying from illness felt like a whole different world removed from his own. They didn't _live_ long enough. 

"Very," Bard nodded. "It's not, not common at that age, but it happens."

"So, you were married, with a wife, and you lost her and now..." he frowned again.

"And now?" Bard prompted quietly, watching Fili carefully.

"Well, me," Fili said. "To go from to." He made a vague hand motion that meant nothing.

"Yes. You're, well, you're attractive. But even more than that you care."

"It's still," Fili shook his head. "Weird to me?"

Bard paused for a moment, "Can you say why?"

Fili leveled him with a long look. "You're kidding? Please tell me you're kidding. I'm _me_. I'm not really," and he shook his head. "I'm good at killing things, I'm not good at people. I'm not good at relationships."

Bard's lips twitched slightly at that, "You're better at people than you think."

Fili laughed, a bit bitter. "Sure. Sure."

"Being good at people takes time, takes practice," Bard said.

“Maybe," Fili agreed after a moment, because there was no way to disagree with that and not sound like a petulant child.

"You do well enough with people you're comfortable around."

"Uh," Fili stared at him. "Not really."

Bard's brow furrowed slightly, "No?"

"I've known Balin my whole life. I've loved Kili my whole life. I'm comfortable with Bofur and I was still _shit_ at being with him."

"I'm not talking relationships, or being with people. And knowing someone doesn't always mean you're comfortable with them," Bard said, keeping his specific thoughts on the Kili debacle to himself for the moment.

"I was comfortable with Bofur," Fili repeated. "I was. I was awful at being with him, I was awful at knowing him, except at the end when I told him to his face he didn't love me."

"You're learning where to draw lines, and that's so important," Bard said after a pause to think.

"I," Fili rubbed a hand over his face again. "I'm not saying I want... I'm not saying what I want because I don't know what that is. But. I don't want you to have... an illusions. About. Me."

Bard's lips quirked up ever so slightly at that, "I know. You're right, you're not good with people. You're better than you think, but not especially good. But you're care about people regardless. And you're still finding yourself out; it's not a good time for a relationship, even if the world wasn't ending."

Fili blinked at him. "You still kissed me."

Bard ran a hand over his knee, huffing slightly as he nodded, "Yes, I did. I'm attracted to you, I won't deny that. But it's too soon, and not just for you."

"Because of your wife?" Fili asked, hesitant.

"A little. Mostly because of the kids. And because we don't actually know each other outside of this situation. This tension and fear," Bard answered.

"How... practical of you."

"Is that a bad thing?"

Fili shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not."

"But that's something I'd like to do," Bard said quietly, meeting Fili's eyes. "Get to know you better, I mean."

"Well," Fili said and smiled wryly. "We're in pretty close quarters now. Should help."

That earned a breath that might have been a laugh, "We are, yeah."

The corners of Fili's mouth twitched and he pushed himself up. "I should, uh, let you have your room back."

"You can stay, if you like," Bard said, also rising.

"No, it's fine," Fili shook his head. "Still have a lot to do."

Bard nodded slightly, "Alright. Be careful, Fili."

"For some reason a lot of people have been telling me that lately," Fili said dryly.

"Because you matter to a lot of people."

"I," Fili sighed, shifting uncomfortably before he got himself back under control. "Noticed, yeah."

Bard slipped his hands into his pockets rather than touch Fili, his lips twitching minutely, "Is that a good or bad thing?"

"I," Fili stared at him. "Am still trying to decide."

Those words brought Bard up short and he blinked at Fili for a moment before managing to nod, "Let me know if-- _when_ you figure it out?"

"Yeah, okay," Fili said, ducking his head down and sliding off the bed. He hesitated for a moment at the door, before shaking his head and pulling it open.

Bard curled his fingers inside his pockets so as not to stop Fili, watching the blond leave before sinking down onto the bed himself and letting his head rest in his hands.

-0-

Legolas sat cross-legged, shuffling two decks of cards between his hands as he watched Gimli, "Your father keeps looking at me like he expects me to turn you any minute."

"Because I think he does," Gimil said, sitting in a chair and shifting through the book in his lap.

The vampire grimaced at that and dealt out a hand of forty thieves, "Yes because that's entirely a good idea even if I didn't know you'd reject it outright."

"We'll he's a dad," Gimli said, still looking more at the book then Legolas. "I guess it's their job to worry."

"That's the rumor," Leoglas said, setting the next card down with more force than necessary before glancing up at Gimli. "Interesting book?"

"Obscure book," Gimli replied. "It's really old and as a result really fucking hard to understand."

“Why are you reading it?"

"I found it at the house," Gimli said. "It's some handwritten account of earlier hunters. I mean within the last couple hundred years but..."

Legolas set the cards he still held in his hand down, "Find anything interesting in it?"

"Maybe," Gimli hedged. "They were a lot more aware of being well... other."

Legolas paused for a moment before shuffling all of the cards back into the double-deck and rising to perch on the arm of Gimli's chair, glancing at the book, "What sort of things are in there?"

"Mostly talks about hunts, things like that. Theories on vampires and well... our non human blood. I think it was written by someone like Ori, y'know?"

"So not only handwritten but thorough and wordy?" Leoglas asked, tilting his head and frowning at the handwriting he could partially make out.

"More," Gimli paused. "Interested in exploring the misunderstood or the not understood." he tilted his head back. "You think Ori's wordy?"

"Sometimes?" Legolas shrugged, frowning at the page. He pointed at a word, "Is this even English?"

"No," Gimli said. "Uh. Latin? I think."

"Huh, educated, explorative, and handwritten." The vampire shook his head, "I'm impressed."

Gimli curled the book closer up against his chest. "It's also the only book we have left."

Legolas paused at that, the stark reminder setting him off kilter before he rested a hand on Gimli's shoulder, his voice muted, "Were you able to recover anything?"

"Some of Dori's books might be salvageable," Gimli said. "Some stuff from the cottage but from the main house? No. I was reading this when Bifur threw me out the window. I found it again in the morning."

"I'm sorry," Legolas murmured, curling more securely onto the arm of the chair. "I'm glad that you all made it out safely though."

Gimli sighed, leaning his head back and looking at Legolas. "Yeah, we're all safe," he said, sounding doubtful.

Legolas bit back the response that that wasn't what he said, humming slightly, "We're still standing."

"For a couple more days at least," Gimli agreed.

"We'll take what we can get at this point," Legolas murmured, his arm draped along the back of the chair.

Gimli considered him a moment before a tiny smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "You're not doing a lot of taking what you can get at this point, though."

Smiling ever so slightly, Legolas tilted his head nearer to Gimli, "No?"

"Not at all. You're terrible at taking advantage."

"Would you like me to?"

"It would be the time for it," Gimli said, a little too quickly.

Fingers brushing over Gimli's hair briefly, Legolas leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips.

Gimli wrapped both his hands around Legolas' neck before tugging sharply, spilling him from the arm rest and directly onto his lap. The book clattered to the floor and Gimli swore because he had forgotten for a moment he still had it.

A startled sound caught int he back of his throat, Legolas caught his balance with one hand on Gimli's shoulder. He drew back long enough to reach down and right the book so the pages didn't risk damage before turning his attention back to Gimli, fingers tangling in the other's dark red hair.

"Better," Gimil laughed after a moment, when he pulled back for air that Legolas didn't need.

Legolas grinned, his forehead resting against Gimli's, "Good."

Hand scrambling against Legolas' hair, Gimli pulled him closer again. "You could try for even better."

That earned a laugh and a grin, "How much better?" Before Gimli could answer, Legolas leaned in and kissed him again, one hand moving to rest on Gimli's chest where Legolas could feel the rapid beat of his heart.

-0-

Pacing back and forth in front of the map, Erestor would pause from time to time to stare at it before huffing and returning to pacing. Glorfindel watched his lover's agitated movements, for once sitting quiet and still, "Erestor, looking at the map again isn't going to change it."

"No," Erestor agreed.

"What's got you so agitated then? The location isn't going to change, and the fighting ground isn't going to improve."

"The waiting," Erestor snapped. "We can't do anything except wait and and... what? Say goodbye to our loved ones in case we don't survive, in case we _lose_?"

Glorfindel snarled very slightly at that, "The;y're all 'if's. I refuse to spend what might be our last few days and nights living in fear of them being such and worrying about that fact, though it seems a large portion of those in this house haven't decided the same."

"Because we have nothing to do but worry!" Erestor snapped, throwing a pen at the wall and watching it bounce unsatisfyingly across the floor.

"And so we worry and snap and fight and train and do it all over again," Glorfindel's voice rose slightly. "There's nothing more we can damn well do, there's no point to going over the same forsaken circles." He snapped his mouth shut, growling an undertone between clenched teeth that was in something resembling Old Norse.

“Stop swearing at me in dead languages," Erestor said, voice strained. "I've been getting enough of that from the hunter."

Raking his hands through his hair, Glorfindel tangled his fingers in the blond strands as he reined his temper back in again, "We can't lose, Erestor."

“We probably will," he returned.

Glorfindel refused to name the emotion he could feel crawling through him at those words and he nodded, "I know."

"Don't you have any last minute desires?" Erestor asked, too quietly.

"To spend the next few days exclusively in your company," he answered without hesitation. "And to get you away from that damn map."

"I both love and hate the map," Erestor said and for a moment he sounded amused.

Glorfindel snorted at that, a shred of humor in the sound, "I'm coming very solidly down on the latter right now."

"Are you?" Erestor remarked. "I'm not quite so certain."

"It tells us nothing new," Glorfindel said, "and really all it's said so far is that this is going to be a truly awful place for a fight of this magnitude."

Erestor rubbed a hand over his face before his eyes snapped over to the door at the sound of someone moving. "Is this a bad time?" Ori asked, looking for a moment like he was surprised to see Glorfindel.

Glorfindel looked in that direction, his lips kicking up slightly on the left side as he looked back to Erestor, not inclined to stumble into that fight again by saying no.

"What do you want?" Erestor snapped.

"Well, I was talking to Galadriel," Ori said and paused. "Which is only tangentially related. Why don't you like me?"

Glorfindel's eyebrows rose and his jaw dropped, though he quickly covered his surprise and rose to go look over the map he had been maligning moments before. He had to admit he was curious to see if Ori would get a straighter answer than he had; he rather doubted it.

"I am in doubt of whether I like _anyone_ ," Erestor returned.

"Fair," Ori said. "I don't think like is the right word. But I bother you. We're going to be in really close confines the next couple days is all."

Glorfindel traced a finger over the streets surrounding the mark representing the fourth portal, not looking up, "He has a point."

Erestor stared at him before turning back to Ori. "It is complicated."

Ori plopped himself down on a chair. "Okay."

Glorfindel spared a look in Ori's direction, before straightening from the map and moving over to Erestor's side, tempted to curl an arm around Erestor's waist but he suspected that would not be taken well at the moment.

"I am not accounting for myself to you," Erestor snapped.

"So don't account, don't justify. Just explain it."

Folding his arms over his chest, Erestor stared at Ori for a long minute. "Alright. You remind me too much of me."

Ori blinked. "What?"

Pausing for a moment, Glorfindel reached out and let his hand rest at the small of Erestor's back, a barely there touch that the other wouldn't have to be obvious of shifting away from if he didn't want it.

Erestor did not move. "Not me, in a directly personal way," Erestor said. "Not in personality. But. You are like me. Or as I was, when I was younger and human."

Glorfindel's focus shifted entirely to Erestor at that and his touch became firmer, but he bit his tongue before he said anything.

"I... was honestly not expecting that," Ori said after a beat and Erestor let out a huffy sound. "Okay, sorry for not expecting that."

"Are you done asking questions?" Erestor snapped.

"No, because _how_ exactly was I like you as a human?"

"Do you need to know that?" Glorfindel asked, though he was curious as to the answer himself.

Erestor paused for a long moment. "Let us say," he said finally. "That every hack eyed magician and power hungry demon knew where I was from a very young age."

Ori started at him in confusion before understanding dawned and wiped the expression off his face. "Oh."

Glorfindel's fingers twitched but he squashed the urge to wrap himself around his lover. He had suspected, but to hear Erestor voice it even in such a way made him want to snarl.

"But we'll be able to work together?" Ori asked after a beat.

"Yes," Erestor said. "I think I've made it clear I have no issue working with any of you hunters."

"Right," Ori said. "Sorry, my bad."

"Is there anything else, Ori?" Glorfindel asked, his voice quiet.

"No," Ori said, looking between them. "I'll just... go talk to Galadriel again I think."

"Take care," Glorfindel murmured.

"Yeah," Ori said after a beat and slipped out of the room as quickly as he could without obviously trying to run.

Once the door closed behind him, Glorfindel gave up on not curling around Erestor, his arms wrapping around the other's waist and his chin resting on Erestor's shoulder from behind.

"Stop it," Erestor said. "You're being pitying."

"No. You think I'm being pitying. What I'm actually doing is wrapping myself around my lover," Glorfindel answered.

"After I said something about my past which would induce pity," Erestor snapped still tense.

Glorfindel closed his eyes pressing his lips against the dip of Erestor's collarbone, "I would have done it as soon as your conversation with Ori started, but I didn't think you'd appreciate it."

"No I wouldn't have," Erestor said, the line of his shoulders starting to relax for a moment.

Humming slightly at that, Glorfindel shifted one of his hands from Erestor's waist up to his dark hair, still focusing on the point where Erestor's neck and shoulder joined.

"You're acting needy," Erestor said.

"I'm not denying that," Glorfindel murmured.

"It..." Erestor started and the trailed off.

"Hm?" Glorfindel prompted watching Erestor's expression out of the corner of his eye.

"I was going to say it's irritating but that might simply be me posturing."

"There's a major portal to hell opening in just a couple of days. I reserve the right to be needy right now," Glorfindel murmured.

"If you must," Erestor said after a beat. "But I still can't shake the feeling it had to do with that boys questions as well."

"You were uncomfortable from the moment he stepped into the room. Yes, some bit of this has to do with that, but it's not the central part of it," Glorfindel murmured, his hands moving to trace over the tension in Erestor's shoulders.

“I still feel condescended to," Erestor muttered. "Though I suppose I will survive."

"Being aware of and wanting to remove that discomfort is condescending?" Glorfindel sighed, shaking his head.

“Yes," Erestor said without a trace of irony.

Glorfindel responded with a strangled sound that might have been exasperation and might have been choking on an unexpected laugh as he ducked his head to rest it against Erestor's shoulder blade, "Of course it is."

"But I'll endure it," Erestor said, turning his head to nudge his nose against Glorfindel's cheek. Glorfindel offered him a wry smile and turned his head to kiss the other. Wrapping his hands around the back of Glorfindel's head, Erestor pulled him closer into the kiss.

-0-

“Why didn't you tell me you had gotten back?” Kili asked and it was through sheer force of will Fili did not startle as he looked up.

“I was asleep,” he said, and cleared his throat. He went back to riffling through the weapons in front of him, checking the blades for sharpness and making sure any quivers were filled with arrows. Anyone could have done it but he was restless and his fingers itched with the need of something.

“You could have checked in,” Kili said.

“Yeah,” Fili agreed after a beat, bending his head over the weapons again. “Sorry.”

“You're avoiding me,” Kili said, sitting on the back of one of the chairs in the room, his feet on the seat.

“Not very effectively,” Fili pointed out, still not turning. “Besides, I really did need to sleep.” Even though it had been accidental, and he felt no more rested now then he had.

“Are you going to run away again when I try to talk to you?” Kili asked and Fili closed his eyes before he shrugged.

“I'm not planning on it,” he said and for a while they sat in silence.

“It's not so bad, you know,” Kili said when the silence became too much and Fili froze, slowly tilting his head back. “Becoming a vampire.”

“Not that bad?” Fili repeated weakly.

“I mean,” Kili looked away. “It hurts, sure, and it makes things different. But we're different, anyway. You're more like me then other humans are.” He plowed on, despite the look Fili was giving him, something confused and horrified. “We have hunter blood. I mean, apparently, most vampires when they get turned, and these are the ones we used to encounter the most—well it takes them a while. They can't think past the blood lust, they might never remember themselves. For the first year it's especially bad I guess, or something. But because we're not human—I skipped all that. You would too. The blood lust, it's not too bad.”

“Not too bad?”

“Well, it's not,” Kili said. “It's pretty manageable you know, after,” he trailed off for a second. “After the first time, anyway. And you'd probably remember stuff really fast.”

“Do you remember everything?” Fili asked after a moment, and he was tense and poised like he was about to run.

“The things that are important,” Kili said with total certainty.

“Are you sure?” Fili asked and Kili frowned at him.

“What do you mean?” he asked, voice hardening and Fili froze, before obviously forcing himself to relax.

“Nothing, perhaps,” he said, looking away. “It's just, you don't—act like you remember everyone. Like Gimli or—”

“I remember Gimli,” Kili said defensively. “He was a kid we grew up with, I know. But he—that doesn't matter.”

Fili blinked once before just giving up and closing his eyes.

“Don't you trust me?” Kili asked. “Don't you trust that I don't want to hurt you? I mean, not really, not in any meaningful ways,” and it was through sheer force of will Fili didn't wave his hand under Kili's nose and demand to know what that counted as. “I just want us to be together.”

Fili closed his eyes, ducking his head down.

“And I'm not just saying these things,” Kili said. “I really do—it won't be that bad.”

“You're talking about dying,” Fili said, not looking at him.

“It's not that bad,” Kili repeated. “I mean, for what you get in return.” He slinked forward and Fili finally looked at him to track his movements. “You get to be stronger, faster, better, and instead of just looking forward to dying young,” he paused, waiting until Fili met his eyes. “Well, you already got that part over with. So you can do what you want.”

“And is that really something you... enjoy?” Fili asked.

“Look, I know you're obsessed with your duty—”

“It's not an obsession and it's not about duty,” Fili snapped. “We are what we are.”

“We don't have to be!” Kili yelled, throwing a hand out. “We can be anything we want to be. No one wrote our fate in the stars and set it in stone!”

“And so we have to die to get there?” Fili shot back.

“It's freeing!”

“It's death!”

Kili snapped forward, moving so fast he almost knocked Fili back into the weapons he had been checking. “Like you're actually one to talk about that,” he snarled. “You've been trying to—” he broke off. “Do I seem dead to you?”

Fili just stared at him and Kili made a disgusted sound, rearing back. “Are you serious? I'm here, aren't I? I'm still me, aren't I?”

“That's not—” Fili started. “That's not everything though.”

“Are you listening to yourself?” Kili asked. “That's not everything? What else is there?”

“Am _I_ listening to myself?” Fili demanded. “Are you actually hearing the words that come out of _your_ mouth?” He pushed away from the wall, heading for the door. “You said,” he added, stopping by the door and turning. “You said I could get through this before. So leave me alone until—” 

“You've never needed me to leave you alone before,” Kili sulked. 

“For _fuck's_ sake,” Fili snarled and slammed the door behind him.

For the first time in what felt like a long time, Kili didn't instantly try and figure out how to follow him. Instead he sat in the quiet room, staring at the gleaming weapons in front of him. 

-0-

Celeborn looked up from the papers he was going over as the door to the room drifted open from where he had left it ajar. From his position behind his desk, he couldn't actually see the lower half of the door due to an arm chair. No one was visible, but he was certain he heard a heartbeat. Possibly one of the three children? Though why they would be wandering on their own after their father's reaction earlier was beyond him. "Who's there?"

Tilda poked her head around his desk. "This is bigger then the other stuff here."

He blinked down at her for a moment, "Well there's rather a lot of things to store in it, and on it."

She stared at him, as if she already knew he was posturing a bit. "Uh huh."

"You don't think so?" He arched an eyebrow, rolling his chair back slightly.

She looked from him to the desk. "How old are you?"

"You know," he said after a moment, "I don't think I actually remember. Very old."

"You don't remember?" She asked wide eyed.

He shook his head, "Not enough to say exactly. Not even enough to say as vaguely as some of the others. What about you? How old are you?"

"Three years and eleven months and four days," she said promptly.

That garnered a smile from Celeborn, "Much better than I can do."

"Yes," she nodded, still staring at him.

He chuckled at her direct agreement, "Does your father know you're wandering around the house?"

"No," she said, still leaning against the desk and looking up at him with big eyes.

Celeborn glanced toward the papers spread on his desk and then back to Tilda, "Won't he worry?"

"He's asleep," she said as if Bard's brain could possibly turn off his concern just because he was asleep.

"That never stopped me worrying about my own daughter," Celeborn said, blinking once as he realized what he'd said.

"You have a daughter?" Tilda asked, pleased and warm.

Celeborn paused and then shook his head, "I did. Sort of."

"How can you sorta have a daughter?" Tilda asked, coming around the desk and not even hesitating before she pulled herself up into Celeborn's lap.

Another long blink was his only reaction to that as he set a hand on her waist to balance her a bit more, "It is different with us vampires than it is with humans. She wasn't my daughter like you are your father's, but I cared for her as though she was."

"Then she was your daughter," Tilda said.

Celeborn's lips twitched upward into a faint smile, "Yes, she was."

"But she's not here anymore," Tilda said, looking at him with big eyes.

He shook his head, "No, she hasn't been here for a very long time."

"Like my mom," Tilda said.

Celeborn paused before nodding, "Yes, like your mother." He considered before speaking again, "So it is you and your brother and sister and your father?"

"Yes," she nodded firmly before pausing, cocking her head to the side and considering him quietly.

"What brought you in here?" he asked after another moment.

"I was curious," she said.

"Because the door was open?"

"Because Fili," she said as if that explained everything.

He turned his full attention on her at that, "What do you mean"

"He doesn't like you," Tilda said. "Anyone here."

"No, he doesn't," Celeborn agreed after a moment.

"I like him," Tilda said. "Dad's worried. But he's asleep right now. So I wanted to meet some of you."

"Does anyone else know you're wandering about? Your brother or sister?"

"No," she said brightly.

He blinked twice, trying to figure out if there was a way to instill caution in a child as young as Tilda without actually causing fear, "I see."

"You miss your daughter," she said, patting his knee from where she was still on his lap. "You're not bad."

Celeborn stared at her for a long moment, trying to figure out where the logic in that statement was, before deciding it probably had something to do with her being three. Rather than continue down that twisting trail he changed the subject, "So you like Fili?"

"Yes," she said.

"How do you know him?"

"He came home with dad one night," she said.

"Oh," he nodded, remembering mention of a human one night during a mutual patrol. "I do believe the twins mentioned that."

"Twins?"

"My daughter's...sons I suppose. Elladan and Elrohir," Celeborn answered. "They were out with Fili that night I believe."

"Oh." She grinned. "Grandkids?"

Celeborn laughed, "Something like that, yes."

"You look good for your age," she declared, sliding off his lap.

“Thank you, I think. Where are you off to?"

"Back to da," she said.

"Alright," he nodded, feeling more reassured by that than he wanted to consider. "Good day."

She gave him another bright smile before skipping for the door. "You too!" He stared at the door for a long moment before returning to his work, a small smile on his face.

-0-

Ori came upon Fili up the staircase that twisted up the whole mansion, ending on a balcony on the roof. "Why do vampires have a sun roof?" Ori asked, leaning his elbows on the trap door. He had seen Fili storming this way a while ago, and had only now decided to follow.

"Don't think they come up during the day," Fili said, smoke curling from the cigarette in his hands. "Might be a nice place to see the stars."

"There's probably too much light pollution," Ori said, pulling himself all the way up from the ladder, trying not to stare too hard at Fili bathed in the bright December sunlight. "Doesn't it hurt your eyes?"

"Yeah," Fili said, taking another long drag and Ori sat down beside him, a bundle of knitwear with his knees drawn up contrasted with Fili's leather coat and jeans, his legs sprawled out in front of him.

For a while they sat like that, the cigarette burning down between Fili's finger tips. "Why are you up here?" Ori asked, already knowing the answer.

"You know, I thought I would die like this," Fili said, voice totally blank, and Ori tensed. "I mean, this was my only option. I was going to be a hunter, I was going to be like Thorin. I would grow old and bitter or I would die protecting Kili or just because that's what happens, we die some nights. I just thought, that I lost my chance to get out. I didn't go to college. And then I lost Kili. So I thought that this was just going to be it. I would live and die as a hunter. As I began, so I would end."

"That's awfully depressing," Ori murmured, arms curled around his knees.

Fili snorted. "The most fucking depressing." He took a deep breath and let it out.

"I noticed you weren't smoking before," Ori said. "I mean, after you were sick and before this."

"My lungs," Fili said.

"And now you don't care again?" Ori asked, tentative and angry all at once.

Fili let out a frustrated breath, taking another drag from the cigarette before crushing out the stub on the roof. "Kili was talking about it again.”

“He can't force you into something you don't want, you know that, and he must know that--” Ori started, rage shaking his voice.

"Ori," Fili cut him off, unable to look over at him. "Don't. Just... don't."

Ori was breathing hard when he forced himself to sit back down, folding up even more neatly this time. "Oh. You're honestly considering it."

"I can't not," Fili said quietly. "I don't know what I want. I said, I thought this would be it, I would live and die like this but... but now... there are other options, there are other paths I could take and I don't know what to do."

"Tell me about these paths," Ori said, voice hollow and Fili looked over at him with wide, grateful eyes. Even though Ori was holding his knees like that was all holding him together.

Fili fumbled around in his coat until he could pull out another cigarette and his lighter. "There's Kili," he said finally. "Who's so angry that I hesitated at the choice. He says he wants to be with me, to be together forever. He keeps telling me about being a vampire, as if it's not horrifying, as if I should be happy with what he's saying. Oh, you'll have horrible blood lust when you wake up but after that it's manageable! Blood lust! Being manageable! That memories will take a while to come back, and he admits that he can barely remember Gimli, who he used to adore so much," and he shook his head, blond hair catching the sunlight. "Don't you remember them? Gimli would trail after us, all of us, but when we were older, you and I, and talking about school and things Kili would sulk and go play sticks around the yard with Gimli. They were in the same grade after Kili got held back and now Kili can barely remember him!"

He rubbed a hand over his face. "Part of Kili is gone. No matter what he says or does part of him died and he can both see that and refuses to acknowledge it. He thinks somehow it should be easy to give that up. A part of me would die too," Fili said Ori had stopped breathing, staring at him. "I don't know what part, I don't know what I would lose. I don't know what I would gain either, but something in me would be gone and I, as I am now, would be dead. What if I don't want to die yet?" he said, carried along in his rant before he realized what he said. When he did, he froze, Ori staring at him with wide eyes. Fili opened and closed his mouth, looking past Ori to the city beyond. "What... if... I don't want to die yet?" Fili tried again, testing the words out.

Ori burst abruptly into tears and Fili stood, wavering in shock before he bent down and dragged Ori against his chest. "I'm sorry," he said, "I'm sorry."

Ori curled his fingers in Fili's coat and held on. "You have been scaring me for so long," he said. "That that was _all_ you wanted to do."

"Maybe it's not," Fili said, still unsure about that answer himself. "Maybe. God, I can't promise anything right now."

"I know," Ori said, burying his face further in to Fili's chest. "But," and he choked on another sob. "But maybe it's a start."

Fili held him as he continued to cry. "Ori," he said quietly, floundering.

"You said there were options," Ori said, sniffling. "What were the others?"

Looking over Ori's shoulder, Fili took a deep breath, moving Ori against his chest when it expanded. "Bard kissed me," he said quietly, as if Kili could hear him down below in the mansion. Ori tensed. "I don't think he planned it, or anything. And I'm not sure what I want there. But," he petted Ori's hair as the other finally started to calm down. "But his family. They're so beautiful. His kids... and he loves them so much and is so kind and careful with them and they love him and... just... watching them. Seeing what a family like that could be. I could..." and he hesitated because the dream felt so fragile, like a tiny glass bird fluttering in his chest, yearning for something that scared him, and he was terrified putting it to words would shatter the possibility entirely. "I wonder what it would be like. To just leave. To be able to care for people like that. Not even Bard himself, not necessarily though..." and he trailed off again.

"I want to know what it would be like. To be loved for me, without expectations, without pressure for me to _do_ things, to _be_ something I might not be. And seeing them, maybe... maybe someday I could have something like that."

"Do you want something like that?" Ori asked, already knowing the answer.

"It hurts to think about it," Fili admitted and Ori curled closer against his chest. "Everything hurts to think about, but that most of all."

"Nothing is certain right now," Ori said quietly and Fili tucked his chin over Ori's head, holding on to him.

"I know," he said. "This isn't worth worrying about before ... well. Before."

"But Kili," Ori said and Fili tensed. "He's expecting something from you, isn't he?"

"Yes," Fili answered, quiet and bitter. "I just don't know if I can give it to him."

Ori did not say this was a doubt he wished Fili had a long time ago. "I'm here," he said instead. "To talk. When you need it. I can... I'll..."

"You'll support me no matter?" Fili asked wryly.

"Always," Ori promised, though his fingers tightened on Fili's coat, the leather squeaking and Fili squeezed him tighter in return.

 


	33. You Can Finally See the Stars from Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, it hasn't been a full year since we last posted! Just, uh, close to 10 months.
> 
> We're sorry RL has been too real. 
> 
> Let's get this end of the world on the road.

The halls of the vampires' mansion were practically deserted, most everyone either preparing to head out on patrol or just returning.

Bofur made his way through the silent space, his senses on alert for any movement. He came around a corner and found Fili stepping off a flight of spiral stairs. He looked exhausted, dark circles under his eyes as he glanced over his shoulder before focusing his gaze on Bofur. "Oh, Bofur."

Bofur looked him over and couldn't help but frown, "Are you sleeping?"

Fili almost looked amused. "Honestly? I've been trying to snag sleep when Kili isn't around. Which is almost never."

"I think he was getting dragged out on a patrol tonight," Bofur said. "Come on, let's get you to bed so you can sleep a bit."

Something funny happened on Fili's face. "This conversation feels familiar."

Bofur blinked at that, "Oh. _Oh_. I didn't mean like that. Just...you need sleep."

Fili ran a hand through his hair. "I know. It's just," he shrugged a little helplessly. "I almost wish I was learning magic with Ori because at least then I would have to sleep."

Bofur paused at that, "Look, I didn't mean it like _that_ , but....come on. You can stay in our room tonight."

"I didn't mean," Fili started. "Aw, fuck. Thank you."

"We're god awful at this," Bofur said with a crooked grin.

"Yes we are," Fili sighed. "I just. It means a lot to me. That you--"

"You're welcome," Bofur said. "Really, Fili."

Fili offered him an exhausted smile. "Here we are again then. Have you been sleeping since we got here? I know they gave you a normal bed."

"Not a lot," Bofur admitted. "But I'm willing to bet it's a fair sight more than you have."

"This isn't about falling back in to habits," Fili said after a best. "But we both need the sleep."

"Yeah," Bofur said as they walked toward the rooms the hunters had been given, falling into an easy pace together.

Fili snorted. "How is Bifur?"

"Agitated," Bofur said quietly. "Better than we expected considering where we are, but....not good either."

"Has that vampire ever translated anything he is saying?"

"No," Bofur scowled.

"Maybe, when this is all over...." Fili offered, because he had to offer something.

"I dunno how likely that is," Bofur said. "But maybe."

"It's worth asking for," Fili said. "I've been told asking for things is a healthy way to cope with ... life I guess."

Bofur managed a smile at that, "So people say. Like you said, it's worth asking." He pushed the door open and Fíli staggered in, heading straight for the bed.

"Yeah," Fili said, not bothering with pride as he reached the bed, collapsing on it and kicking at his boots which he hadn't unlaced yet. "Damnit."

Bofur chuckled, "Those aren't going to come off very well like that."

"I know," Fili said and forced himself into a sitting position. "My ribs hurt like a bitch. I must have done something to them the other night. Besides coughing, I mean."

"You should have Oin check them over again int he morning."

"Maybe," Fili said, working on the laces. "I think I fucked my voice up too." He shook his head. "Sorry. Just realizing how much I hurt. Been ignoring it too long.” His voice had only really started bothering him in the last few days when everything else started to feel better and his voice had not gone back to normal.

"What do you think you did to your voice?" Bofur asked. "The timbre is different though, you're right."

Fili looked up and the bruises were almost faded but still around his throat. "The commander, I think."

Bofur paused at that, his gaze going to the bruising, "And then straining it on top of that maybe?"

"Yeah," Fili said. "There was some yelling I did I think...” He twisted his mouth wryly.

Bofur hummed, "That'd do it, probably,” he said, without addressing what Fíli implied.

Fili snorted. "You and I yelling, specifically." He sighed. "I'm sorry. About. All of that."

Bofur paused at that, "I forgive you. I'm sorry too. We both made mistakes there."

"I was talking to Ori," Fili said and he paused, one boot still on but unlaced.

Bofur turned his full attention on Fili, "Yeah?"

"I told him I don't want to die," Fili said, staring at the wall instead of Bofur.

There was a long moment of silence as Bofur sought for something to say to that, "You....You said that? You mean that?"

"I'm almost positive I do," Fili said. "At least I'm working on it being true."

"I..." Bofur made a quiet sound at that, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "I didn't expect to ever hear you say that."

"Yeah? Don't think I did either," Fili said and smiled ironically at the wall, finally tugging his last boot off. "Anyway. That's why I'm sorry."

Bofur offered him a faint smile at that, "Okay. I'm glad you're working on that."

"You know the stupidest part?” Fíli said, suddenly unable to stop talking. “I didn't think it through. It's selfish, really. I didn't think about it until the other morning. It's not--about how mom or Thorin would react. It's... Ori and Dwalin and Gimli and," he ducked his head, finally looking over. "How you would react."

That earned a crooked grin, "I'm...not glad it took that long, but it's good you're thinking about it."

"Can someone actually hit me if I'm being selfish again?" Fili asked.

"Not sure we want to hit you," Bofur said.

"Punch me in the arm then, that's still relatively undamaged," Fili said, giving him a queasy smile. "Or. Make up a code word. Code salamander Fili, stop being a dick."

Bofur managed a quiet laugh at that, "Alright, we'll do that."

"Look at us," Fili sighed. "It's the end of the world and I can finally talk about my emotions. A little bit."

"A little bit is a big step," Bofur said.

"Yeah," Fili paused before tucking himself against Bofur's side. "Thank you."

Bofur wrapped an arm around Fili at that, "You're welcome."

"Okay now I'm definitely out of words to talk about feelings," Fili murmured. "How are you doing?"

"Exhausted. Worried about Bifur, and completely petrified about the portal," Bofur said wryly.

"Oh so a normal day at the end of the world," Fili said and then actually giggled. "Wait that hurt. Bad idea."

Bofur chuckled, "Careful there. But yeah, normal day at the end of the world."

"Be careful," Fili said after a beat, still slumped against him.

"I will be. You too," Bofur said softly.

"We covered that, right?" Fili said sleepily. "Don't wanna die. I'll be careful."

"Let's get you to bed now so you can sleep," Bofur said, starting to shift so they could lay down.

"Okay," Fili said, letting himself be pulled down. He stayed pressed to Bofur's side, listening to the rise and fall of his chest, letting it finally lull him to sleep that didn't feel restless.

-0-

Fili walked out of Bofur's room, more rested than he had been in a while if not particularly more at peace with himself. He almost instantly walked in to Kili. Startling, he took a step back from Kili's stony expression. "Fuck, I thought you were on patrol."

"I was," Kili said and Fili blinked, finally processing how long he had slept.

"Oh."

"What were you doing in there?" Kili asked, almost vibrating in annoyance quickly becoming anger. "Especially since you made sure I wasn't here for it."

Fili stared at him. Opening his mouth, he closed it again. "You know what I don't actually owe you that explanation."

The next door down the hall opened and Dori stepped out, pausing and frowning when he caught sight of Fili and Kili.

"So you won't tell me?" Kili demanded.

"I don't have to tell you!" Fili snapped. "It's not your business, everything I do! I didn't tell you everything I did or about everyone I saw even when we were both human!"

"But with _Bofur_ ," Kili said, disgust in his voice.

Fili narrowed his eyes. "Don't you dare. Leave off on him."

"He's preposterous," Kili said. "Besides did you forget he let me die the first time?"

Bofur fell completely still behind Fili where he was coming out of the room, "I.."

Fili gestured at him to be quiet, glaring at Kili. "Honestly. You think me capable of forgetting? But I thought you said you liked being a vampire or that you certainly don't mind it, all things considered. Or is there something you're not telling me now?"

Kili drew himself up. "Excuse me?"

"Is there?" Fili asked.

"No," Kili snapped. "I'm just surprised is all you running back to him. Or running to him the first time. What exactly do you see in older men anyway? Trying to find affection that your parental figures never gave you?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Fili asked, too surprised to actually be offended.

The other doors along the hall were starting to open the longer the argument went, people sticking their heads out or stepping into the hall and pulling the doors shut behind them.

"Well its a valid--"

"That is not remotely a valid question!" Fili said. "Are you actually that frightened of your place in my life you have to go reaching for that?"

"Well maybe I wouldn't be if you quit avoiding me!"

"Maybe I wouldn't be avoiding you if you stopped asking me to die for you!" Fili yelled back, forgetting others were there and forgetting his voice carried as bad as Thorin's when he was angry.

Kili looked like he had been slapped. "I am not--"

"What--" Oin started to ask only for Dori to shush him.

"Than what exactly do you call it?" Fili snapped and the vampires had appeared soundlessly on the upper stories.

"Like you haven't been--"

"Do I look like I'm trying to get myself killed right now?"

"Not in this moment, no!" Kíli yelled back. His voice could never get as deep as Fíli's, but it could get significantly higher. Their fights had often occurred outside, because they could rattle the windows when they got going.

"Maybe you should consider that I don't have to do everything you ask!"

"You have before!"

"And have you ever considered that was a bad thing?" Fili thundered. "Or are you still that selfish?"

Elrohir winced at that from a flight up.

Kili stared at him. "What?"

Fili shook his head, and glanced around, his face abruptly paling as he realized exactly how many people were listening and watching them. At least Thorin was at Bilbo's like he had been almost every day since the last portal opened. "Just--leave Bofur out of this. Leave him alone. We were just sleeping."

There was a shift of motion at the top level as Glorfindel leaned against the railing to better see and hear.

"Just sleeping?" Kili repeated. "Together?"

"For some reason I haven't been sleeping well," Fili shot back dryly, though a lot of the anger had seemed to leech out of him.

The last of the doors opened and shut as Bard stepped quietly into the hall, keeping his hand on the doorknob behind him.

Kili's eyes instantly snapped over and he tensed from where he looked like he had been about to back down too. "Speaking of--"

"Oh for fucks sake!" Fili yelled, cutting him off. "Stop being such a fucking child!" With that he stomped past Kili and down the stairs, keeping an ear open for Kili going after Bard. His hand shook on the railing but nothing else indicated turning his back and walking away from Kíli affected him.

Glorfindel called from upstairs, "Kili, come to the ballroom. We need to work on forms again."

Fili stopped on the stairs, turning to watch as Kiki gaped up at him. "What?"

Glorfindel was watching Kili calmly, "What do you mean what? I need to work on forms again and you're the one I drill with best at this time."

When Kili finally stomped up the stairs Fili let out a long breath he had been holding.

Glorfindel waited until Kili had reached him before turning and disappearing from the railing. Kili followed him mutely as Dwalin reached Fili, still stopped halfway down the stairs.

"Well that was--" Elrohir started only for Arwen to step on his foot to shut him up.

"Didn't realize they fought," Elladan said, on Elrohir's other side from Arwen.

"Doesn't look like it's happened very often," Elrohir murmured.

"You're totally off your fucking rocker if you think that's how people fight if they're not used to it," Tauriel said.

Elrohir glanced at her, "No?"

"Maybe he hasn't fought with his brother since he became a vampire because a human has to be a little crazy to fight with one of us but that's not how untried people fight. They know the weaknesses too well. And literally not one of the hunters look surprised."

Elrohir looked back down the stairs considering and then nodded, "You may have a point."

"We can hear you talking about us," Gimli said, one floor down and waved. "Hi. Also. Fuck you."

Elrohir shrugged mostly unconcernedly, earning a solid step on the arch of his foot from Arwen. He bit back a yelp at that, "Right, sorry."

Gimli shook his head and walked down the stairs where Dwalin was still talking quietly to Fili. Fíli's hands tightened and loosened in turns and he would not raise his head. When Gimli reached them, he looped one arm around Fíli's waist and Fíli returned the half hug, Dwalin shaking his head.

"You know, I've noticed," Tauriel said after a beat. "Thorin is never here."

Arwen frowned at that, "You know I hadn't consciously noticed that, but you're right."

"Odd, considering the state his nephew is in," she added as Fili's shoulders sagged and he seemed to tilt against Gimli.

"I'm....not sure that is part of his decision making," Arwen murmured.

"Dick move," Tauriel muttered.

"No argument from me," Arwen agreed.

Tauriel shook her head. "Come on. We should rest. Tonight's the night after all."

Arwen paused at that and then nodded, turning from the railing, "Yeah. Let's go."They walked away together, leaving Elrohir and Elladan staring at each other. For a moment neither moved before Elladan grabbed Elrohir's hand and lead him away, pressed against each other.

-0-

Dusk had fallen and down below the hunters and vampires were gathering, talking of their plans for the night. But Thranduil sat on the same balcony that Fili had discovered at the top of the mansion, watching the sky.

The roof hatch opened and Legolas climbed out. He paused and then moved to sit next to Thranduil, his long legs drawn up and his arms wrapped around them, watching his sire more than the sky.

"Can I help you?" Thranduil asked, as the silence started to stretch between them.

Legolas tensed but forced himself to relax, "Maybe I just wanted to see you before the portal. You know, since you've still been avoiding all of your childer."

"Avoiding?" Thranduil said and sighed. "Perhaps." He flicked at his jeans as if there was something on them. "You know you can finally see the stars from here."

Legolas tipped his head back, looking up, "Not sure that's a good thing. But I have missed being able to see them easily."

"You know the first conversation I had with Tauriel was about the stars," Thranduil said, idle, as if he ever talked about that.

"I didn't," Legolas said. "Neither of you talk about that time much."

"We were both bored out of our minds," Thranduil said. "Me from being too old, her from being an upper class woman in an age that insisted they had nothing to do. I think I've done all the best things in my life because I was bored."

Legolas glanced at him before looking away again, "All of them?"

"Yes," Thranduil said. "What an awful thing, isn't it?"

"Somewhat," Legolas said. "I'm not sure I entirely believe it. But even if it's true," he trailed off and shrugged.

"You don't believe your own sire?" Thranduil asked, looking over. Normally he would sound offended but he just looked tired.

Legolas' lips twitched, "I've learned a little in the last century and a half, and the lesson I hope I've learned best is to not take excuses at face value, even if I wish some of mine were taken that way."

Thranduil's expression darkened. "It's not an excuse."

"Boredom as the reason you do things?" Legolas said. "It sounds like one."

"No, I simply said that my best choices are made in that state,” he said, and looked back at the sky.

Legolas looked at him for a long moment before turning his head to rest his chin on his knees, "What do you consider your best choices?"

Thranduil leveled him with a long look. "You think even the end of the world would cause me to open up that much?” If his tone had been less flat, it might have been self-deprecating.

Legolas shrugged like it didn't matter, "It was worth a shot."

Thranduil considered the stars for a long moment. He tipped his head, as if that would allow him to see them better. "You were not a bad choice."

Legolas startled slightly and then winced, "I didn't mean to come up to ask for validation. I just...came to find you, I suppose."

"Not your boyfriend?”

"We've spent time with each other today, and he's his own family to see to," Legolas said.

"So this is family time, is it?" Thranduil asked.

Legolas made a frustrated noise at that, starting to uncurl again, "You really can be a bastard."

"Yes, I can," Thranduil agreed. "Some things just don't change."

"No, they really don't," Legolas said, getting to his feet.

Thranduil looked up at him, something dark in his eyes. "I've not been a very good sire to any of you.”

"That I disagreed with until the last few months," Legolas said, sliding his hands into his back pockets and tipping his head back to look up at the stars again. "But maybe it was always just relative."

"You're the only one who stayed," Thranduil said. "Even without everything that has happened I knew that hunter would not have stayed with us. Tauriel didn't."

"Yeah," Legolas agreed. "I did."

"I did notice," Thranduil said. "Despite all my other flaws," and he looked up and then away again.

"It was a good place to be, for me." Legolas said, "For a long time. And if I do go away, I intend to come back. But if we make it through this....I'm not sure I can stay right now."

"I'm glad you found the hunter," Thranduil said, looking away. "Furious. But glad."

"Furious?" Legolas asked quietly.

Thranduil hummed. "You made it work. Of course that galls."

"I'm not sure if we have yet or not," Legolas said. "And I'm honestly surprised by it every time I turn around."

"But you want to try," Thranduil said. "And when you're determined you usually get what you want."

Legolas managed a faint smile at that, "Yeah, I want to try."

Thranduil shook his head, refusing to look at him. "As I said. Maddening."

Legolas shrugged very slightly, "I guess I can see that. You wouldn't tell me why you chose to leave if I asked, would you?"

Thranduil frowned and then, "Leave Thorin, you mean."

Legolas nodded once, "Yes."

"Tauriel had left more than a decade before," Thranduil said. "That was part of it. Still smarting from that, I thought it was better to leave than be left in the long term. I was convinced more so that it was pointless. Mortals and immortals do not mix well."

"No, they don't, but that doesn't mean it's not worth it," Legolas said.

"Perhaps," Thranduil said and paused. "Thorin is not Gimli though."

"No, thank everything, Gimli's not Thorin," Legolas said. "I wouldn't....he would not be Gimli if he were like Thorin."

Thranduil gave him a long look. "We didn't talk about it, not overtly. But with Thorin he could only ever have been one thing. A vampire's lover, to do who knows what, or be part of his family and a hunter. He could not have found a way to be both. And if he wasn't a hunter, he would not have borne to see his family."

Legolas frowned, a small crease between his eyebrows, "Wouldn't have seen his family if he wasn't a hunter?"

Thranduil stared at him. "Yes. He would have made a break with them for me. He wouldn't have been able to go home."

"So you, what, made the decision for him?" Legolas asked.

"I'm not worth that," Thranduil said. "So yes. I did. He's never really forgiven me for it."

Legolas turned to face him fully, "It wasn't your place to make that decision for him, centuries of age on him or not."

"No, it wasn't," Thranduil said softly. "Funny what you can learn in a few decades after you've already lived centuries."

"I'm not sure that's the word for it," Legolas said.

"Isn't it?"

Legolas shrugged, "Probably not." He paused for a moment, "Wait. You decided you weren't _worth that_?"

Thranduil only gave him an arched brow, silent.

Legolas stared at him, "You go from being one of the most arrogant beings I know to that response to..." He cut himself off and shook his head, "I don't think I will ever understand you."

"Ah, at least I can still be a mystery," Thranduil said. "My arrogance, my nature, those things are not worth loosing a family for."

"It was still his choice to make. Or should have been."

"Neither you nor Tauriel had families," Thranduil said abruptly. "At least not loving ones. I try not to take people away from theirs."

Legolas snapped his mouth shut at that, clearly keeping himself from saying anything on that point.

Thranduil looked back over. "Ah, that you understand. I was very close with my own sire, did you know?"

"No, I didn't. You speak of yourself rarely," Legolas said. "At least in any way that really matters."

"Smaug is a very old and very powerful demon," Thranduil said and for a second the shift felt jarring. "But Sauron was more powerful and much older. And he. Well. The last time he walked this earth all those who knew of it allied. No few hunters, not half dozen vampires. All the races of the earth that wished to protect it."

"When was this?" Legolas asked, voice quiet as if not to disturb the stars above them or remind Thranduil he was actually speaking to someone.

"A thousand years ago, or so."

Legolas blinked, because no one ever mentioned how old Thranduil was and he had lived over a century without asking. "They, they clearly beat him back. As the world is, the world is here," Legolas said. "But what, what happened?"

"War, death," Thranduil shrugged. "He died, I watched. We won I suppose.”

Legolas fell still at that, "You..."

Thranduil looked over and then focused on the stars again. "There is a moon this night," he said and pointed. "See? There it is rising."

Legolas startled slightly at that and turned to look where Thranduil was pointing, "Not yet full."

"I was almost a thousand years old myself when I turned Tauriel," Thranduil said watching the moon rise.

Legolas blinked once and turned his head to look at Thranduil, "Why did you wait so long?"

"I didn't want any childer," Thranduil said. "I never wanted to be responsible for any other souls in the world. My line was gone except for me my sire dead in front of me. It's not that I wanted to be alone. But I did not want to be responsible. Not cared for."

"What changed? Just boredom?" Legolas asked.

"Probably," Thranduil said. "Distance perhaps. It seemed less immediate with no links between here and hell."

Legolas paused for a long moment, "Why did you turn me?"

"You don't remember when we first met," Thranduil said. "You were angry and hurting and very, hm, sharp in some ways. I was interested. Tauriel was furious. Later we met again and you were dying."

Legolas seemed to accept that, nodding. "And now hell's opening again and you've cut yourself off. Because of what happened before."

Thranduil tensed. "Excuse me?"

"Except it doesn't work like that," Legolas said.

"What doesn't?" Thranduil asked, forcibly mild.

"You don't stop caring and neither do we just because you cut yourself off and distance yourself," Legolas said, pausing. "Or I don't. I can't actually speak about your other childer."

Thranduil looked away, eyes dark. "Is that what I was doing," he said, not quite a question.

"It's certainly felt like you've been doing everything in your power to push me away over the last few months," Legolas said. "I don't have another explanation."

Thranduil's mouth thinned. "Perhaps," he allowed. "I do you know."

"Care?" Legolas clarified.

Thranduil gave him a half smile.

Legolas returned the expression, "I know you do,” he said, not forcing his sire to express any of the words.

"Good," Thranduil murmured.

Legolas relaxed ever so slightly, "Should we, should we go downstairs?"

Thranduil bowed his head and then looked up at the stars again. "I suppose so."

Legolas looked up and then out over the city. For a moment they both looked, seeing some lights around them and then a large swatch of blackness where the power had been completely cut off from the last portal. Only a few fires flickered in the night there, stubbornly refusing to be put out. Further off, in the downtown area, lights were still on, some flickering and some strong.

"There's still some lights," Thranduil said, more to himself as they both could see it. "Some is fire. Electricity on that side of the city. It might makes things easier for the battle."

"I hope so. It's going to be tight quarters," Legolas murmured.

"But we'll be able to see them coming,” Thranduil said, and his hands tightened in some memory he obviously did not wish to recall.

"True," Legolas agreed, opening the roof hatch.

After another moment Thranduil followed him down, finding almost everyone already in the foyer.

Celeborn looked in their direction, nodding slightly to Thranduil before turning his attention back to Galadriel. Glorfindel leaned back against the wall near the door, close to Erestor, but his gaze kept flitting around the room, landing for a moment on Legolas before moving on to Kili.

Kili for his part stood, practically vibrating as Fili walked toward him. For a moment they stood awkwardly before Fili let out a long breath. "Sorry," he said. He reached forward, resting their foreheads together for a moment.

"I didn't mean," Kili started and Fili leaned back to kiss his temple before moving away to stand beside him.

"It's okay," Fili said.

Kíli opened his mouth again and then seemed to decide it was not worth pressing his brother. Instead they stood together, like they had so many times before, and waited for everyone else.

Elrohir was practically wrapped around Elladan, his chin resting on his brother's shoulder from behind, keeping an eye on those around them, and speaking mutely, "At least we know the ground where we're fighting. We've been there often enough." Elladan almost laughed and he obviously wanted to drag Ori into their orbit but he kept flickering between Dori, Dwalin, and Galadriel.

Finally Thorin looked away from his nephews. "It is early yet," he rumbled. "But we should make sure to secure the area. Other demons might already be flocking there." He had returned with the sunset, and had tried to approach Fíli, who had avoided him while trying to make it look like he wasn't.

Celeborn nodded very slightly, brushing his hand against Galadriel's, "Yes, it's time we were on our way."She gripped it back, expression not changing before letting him go. Slowly, the group broke up and started moving, Dis refusing to look at either Fíli or Kíli.

"Is everyone feeling ready?" Elladan said under his breath as Thorin reached the door first, the war party slowly trailing after him.

"I think there's a reason they're not asking that," Elrohir murmured.

"Point," Elladan said and walked quickly to catch up to Ori, falling in behind where he walked with his brother. Elrohir kept up with him, shrugging slightly at the glance Dori gave them over his shoulder.

Further at the front Fili fell into step with Bard. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Are the kids?"

Bard glanced at Fili and let out a long breath, "As alright as I can be, all things considered. And the kids...are safe."

Fili nodded and lapsed into silence again.

"Are you alright?" Bard asked quietly.

"Figure out how to define alright and I'll let you know," Fili murmured.

Bard's lips twitched into a wry smile at that, briefly, "I'll ask again when I've figured that out."

"Yeah, you get back to me," Fili said and started to slow when a strange trio met them on the road, Gandalf with his scarf slung over his shoulder and leaning on a wooden staff, next to Beorn and Bilbo.

"Mithrandir," Celeborn said. "You'll be joining us, then?"

"Rather," Gandalf said as Thorin strode forward.

"Bilbo! What are you doing here?"

Bilbo looked at Thorin, a stubborn set to his jaw, "I'm not staying out of this one, Thorin."

"This is going to be--" Thorin started.

"Extremely dangerous and likely deadly. Yes, I'm aware," Bilbo said. "The world is ending. Did you expect me to sit at home and wait to hear?"

Thorin worked his jaw. "Fine," he said and eyed Beorn before he started walking again.

Bilbo seemed to hesitate for a moment before moving away from Gandalf to fall in with Thorin. For several steps Thorin ignored Bilbo before he slowed. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't expect you."

Behind them, Beorn walked with Bard, who only shook his head, and Gandalf slowed his pace to walk next to Galadriel, who only inclined her head to him.

"I wasn't _certain_ I was coming until a short while ago," Bilbo said.

"I just wanted to know you would be safe tonight," Thorin said and almost looked back at Fili before he stopped himself. "Unlike everyone else I care for. It was selfish."

"I couldn't sit at home while you went to another portal. Not tonight," Bilbo said. "I'm sorry."

"I know," Thorin said at last, sounding like the admission hurt. He hesitated and then reached out, holding Bilbo's hand as they walked.

Legolas slipped up next to Tauriel, walking in silence for a long time before he glanced at her. "How are you feeling about tonight?"

"You kidding? Should have stayed in France."

"I'm glad you're here. Circumstances suck, but I'm still glad you didn't stay in France," Legolas said.

"Circumstances suck," Tauriel laughed. "What a remarkable talent for understatement you have. It's okay. I don't really wish I stayed in France either."

Legolas paused for a long moment before speaking again, "How's Arwen holding up?"

"As well as I can and I'm right behind you, you asshole," Arwen said.

"And why are you asking me that anyway?" Tauriel asked though she turned and slung an arm around Arwen.

Legolas glanced at them as Arwen shifted her shoulders so that Tauriel's arm rested more comfortably, "No reason I suppose."

"Shut it, blondie," Tauriel decided.

Legolas shook his head, slipping away to walk with Gimli. Arwen looked to Tauriel, "What was that about?"

"No clue," she said.

"Strange," Arwen said, watching Legolas before letting her attention drift away from him and Gimli again.

"That is one way to describe my brother," Tauriel said as they stepped out of the near darkness and into a puddle of light, street lights throwing the whole street into stark relief.

In front of them was the club Erestor had marked on the map, it's front looking like any other brick building, except for the long line snaking it's way out of the club, pounding base coming from inside. Elladan made a shocked sound under his breath and the whole group of hunters and vampires stilled, staring from across the street.

"You have to be kidding!"

Elrohir swore, "Well, this got more complicated."

Thorin stepped forward and then stopped again. "What is this?"

"Going out on a limb, I'd say an end of the world party," Elladan said, a little marveling.

"They...seriously?" Dori asked. "Who would think this was a good idea?"

"A lot of people apparently," Elrohir said, head tilted slightly to one side.

"That's a whole lot of people," Fili remarked.

"Can we get to the portal in that?" Elladan asked.

"We still have to figure out exactly where it is," Erestor said. "Which means starting in there."He had crossed his arms over his chest, one brow arched at the spectacle in front of them. Several people in the line had noticed them, and started pointing.

"Which means getting in," Legolas said.

"That's not going to be the most difficult part of the evening," Dis said.

Elrohir glanced toward her, "You've never actually been into one of these places, have you?"

"We are probably significantly more armed than the bouncers," Dwalin remarked and started for said bouncer.

"Fairly sure that's not what I meant," Elrohir muttered as the people in line started clamoring at the group for cutting in front of them.

Elladan gave him a look and then Dwalin reached the bouncer. "We need in. Now," and he flexed his muscles for emphasis.

The bouncer looked at Dwalin and just shook his head, "Yeah, you and everyone else in town. That's why there's a line."

"Sure," Dwalin agreed. "But we have business. And a shocking number of us are quite pretty." Beside him and a little under his elbow, Fili looked up at him sideways.

"Yeah and a shocking number of you aren't," The bouncer said.

“Excuse me,” Bilbo said, barely coming up to Dwalin's shoulder. “But we think there's likely to be another incident and it could happen here, and we need to make sure where and when. And, well, to have another incident like that happen here, with all these people would be bad for business wouldn't it? We just—”

The bouncer suddenly laughed. “Bad for business? That is our business now. The world's ending, isn't it? We might as well go out stoned and drunk and happy.”

Bilbo blinked and Thorin pulled him back, Fíli shaking his head slightly and his arms still crossed.

“We still need to get in there,” Dwalin said. “Because we'd rather the world not end tonight, even if you lot have given up.”

The bouncer shrugged, stepping aside, and ignoring more of the yells. "Yeah, fine. Hell with it, world's ending right? Might as well make a party of it.”

"You have no idea," Fili said on their way past, hand resting on his sword as they walked.

Almost instantly they were plunged into the pounding music and flashing neon lights, first blue and green and then purple and yellow and circling back to red and green. In between the bright flashes it was dark and Fíli closed his eyes, shaking his head to try and clear it.

Everywhere on the floor there were bodies, as people danced and yelled and drank, some of them kissing and doing more in the middle of the floor. As they entered the music track changed, a brief moment of silence before pounding bass assaulted them again. Glorfindel's lips curled back in an instinctive snarl at the sudden assault on his senses before the adjusted at least a little bit to it.

"Fun party," Elladan said, looking around and a girl stumbled into him before hanging off there. "Oh, hello."

Elrohir tensed at that, stepping up a little closer to Elladan's other side, "Would be if we weren't here to cause carnage. Stop carnage? Maybe both."

Elladan flashed him a grin, Thorin glaring at everyone in his pathway.

"Don't these people realize what's happening?" Gimli asked, sticking closer to his father and trying not to stare.

"Think that's the point," Tauriel said.

"It's entirely the point," Legolas agreed. "It's a stupid point, but it is the point."

Erestor shoved several people out of his path, looking around and ignoring their offended yells. “We need to find the actual spot of the portal,” he said, raising his voice to be heard. “It was not outside, which means it must be in this building or perhaps the alley behind it.”

“Where will not care for these buildings,” Galadriel said. “The site of power is more ancient than anything humans have created here.” Her poise had not changed, and several dancers actually moved aside for her as she stepped forward.

“We have to do something about all these people,” Fíli said and somehow Thorin had placed himself next to his nephew. Startling, Fíli looked up at him. “Uncle, it's not even about if we can fight or not. They will die if they stay.”

“Yes,” Thorin agreed. “Come, we'll try and convince people to leave,” and he headed for a stage at the back of the club, where the DJ was playing music, and where in other times bands might have played.

“We find the portal,” Erestor said and he and Galadriel broke off, starting to circle the club, Celeborn going with Galadriel and Glorfindel with Erestor. Slowly everyone else fanned out, knowing there was still some time before the last portal would open.

Even if that time was only hours.

 

 


	34. I Believe in You

Thorin ignored the looks he got as he climbed onto the stage, Fili following closely behind him. There was a mic that someone had left up there and he pulled it off the stand, hoping it still was on. "People!" he yelled. "Listen to me!" The DJ from further down the stage threw something at his head and several people booed, still audible over the music.

"Oh this is gonna work," Elrohir said, just audible and Bilbo offered him a scowl.

Erestor had reached the bar, snarled at the wall and shoved his way back into the mass of people.

"I said listen to me!" Thorin thundered and Fili stood at his side, unsure what else to do. Someone wolf whistled at him and Fíli jumped, glancing over. "We are trying to keep you safe. There are going to be demons here tonight--"

"That's the point, old man!"someone near the stage yelled

Celeborn's lips curled into a snarl at someone who got too close to Galadriel in her path through the club, even as he settled at her side.

Glorfindel's hand hovered over the hilt of his sword, "They're not going to start moving until the portal opens, are they? Idiots."

"They want to die, let them," Erestor said as Thorin tried to keep reasoning with them to just leave. The music was turned up even louder in response.

"Stubborn hunter versus stubborn crowd. I think the crowd's going to win," Glorfindel said, glancing toward the stage.

"Yes," Erestor agreed and someone fell into him, grinning through a drugged haze. "What a fun party," Erestor said dryly, shoving them away.

Glorfindel's smile was sharp, "Not exactly my style of party."

"You have a preferred style of party?" Erestor asked. "I admit I am surprised."

"Oh, it's been many a century since any like it were held," Glorfindel said.

"Indulge me, now I'm curious," Erestor said, head going from side to side, seeking like a blood hound.

"Feasting, bonfires, songs, tales, games of varying kinds," Glorfindel shrugged. "Nothing one sees much now, not in the form I remember it."

"Sounds like that inane sports competition that comes around every two years," Erestor said, distracted before he suddenly looked up and over, following the tug of something unseen.

"I wouldn't know," Glorfindel said, following Erestor's gaze. "Did you find it?"

"Hush," Erestor said, for once not unkindly, but to concentrate better. Glorfindel fell silent, letting his gaze move around the club, focusing on where Galadriel and Celeborn were visible across the room from them.

Galadriel turned as Erestor headed for the back door, frowning in concentration before following him, Ori jogging after her. Glorfindel muttered a quiet curse at that, following Erestor as Celeborn did the same with Galadriel. Dori half-turned before hurrying after Ori. They formed a strange procession all gathering at the back door.

Erestor threw the back door open and stepped into the back lot, where several cars were parked and a line of dumpsters. He paused, sniffing the air before jumping on one of the cars and stilling. "Here," he called. "This is the epicenter."

Glorfindel looked around the area that was left for them to fight, "Only two places for them to go from here, really. Out there," he pointed toward the exit to the main street, "or through there," he gestured back toward the club.

"Over the back wall over there," Celeborn nodded in the direction opposite the street exit. "Or through it, I suppose."

"Or up any of the walls if they can climb," Ori said softly.

Erestor jumped down from the car. "Assume they can do anything, including fly. But the majority will take one of those exits."

"Which means we'll want to concentrate on those for the most part," Glorfindel said. "We've how long yet til it opens?"

"A few hours yet," Galadriel said.

"If it's on time," Thranduil added, stepping outside.

"It's midnight between Christmas Eve and the day itself," Erestor said. "It will open on time."

"Christmas Eve?" Ori asked, head jerking in surprise. "I'd totally forgotten. Is it really?"

Celeborn nodded, tipping his head back to look up toward the sky, "It is. The Hunter is above us tonight."

"Are you fucking kidding me? Now you have yo be kidding me," Ori said.

"The constellation," Celeborn said. "Orion. Not especially visible here, but still there."

"I'm not certain that's what was meant," Glorfindel murmured.

"The hunter," Ori shook his head and walked off, muttering something. Dori hesitated for a moment before he trailed after Ori. Glorfindel watched them with a small twitch of his lips.

"We should fetch the others," Erestor said. "This is where we will need to be."

Glorfindel nodded, "Agreed." He eyed the back door of the club with some distaste before starting toward it.

Inside the party was only increasing and Thorin turned when Erestor ducked inside. "Did you find it?" He asked, almost a snarl as Gandalf swayed along to the pounding music.

Glorfindel nodded, "Yes. It's in the back area through that door."

"Ah good, you figured out it was out back," Gandalf said, without breaking his rhythm.

"Are you always this insufferable?" Erestor asked.

"And do you _never_ share your information?" Glorfindel demanded, frowning.

"Not if he thinks someone can find it themselves," Bilbo said from where he was at Thorin's side.

"It's not my place is all," Gandalf said. Thorin made a disbelieving sound as Fili started working his way toward the group forming near the back door by the stage.

"Not your place," Bilbo said flatly. "You came and told us this was happening and it's not your place to aid more than that?"

Gandalf shook his head like Bilbo was missing everything as Fili suddenly got waylaid, a drunk girl hanging off his shoulders.

Bilbo scowled at Gandalf, pursing his lips, but didn't say anything more on the subject. Dis slid up beside Thorin, "Most of our are close to this side o the club at least."

Fili tried to push the girl away. "Excuse me," he said, Kili turning to see where he was.

"You're very pretty," she said and kissed him. For a second he was too surprised to do anything before trying to push her off more firmly.

"And you're very drunk," Bard said, hand curling on the girl's elbow, gently but firmly.

"You're not bad either," she said and Fili bristled.

"Thank you," Bard said, his expression never changing as he turned her slightly and gave a gentle nudge more in the direction of the front door. "Pretty people in that direction too."

"Oh so there are,” and she wandered away.

"Why the hell do you let things like that happen?" Kili asked. Fíli stared at him a second before shaking his head.

Bard focused on Kili and his eyes narrowed, "Did you just--?"

"Just what?" Kili asked, turning to stare at him.

"We're in a club, people are very drunk and therefore making poor decisions but it's their decisions. It's--" He cut himself off, making a frustrated sound.

Fili managed to barely smile at Bard. “Aw that's cute,” Kíli muttered and Fíli rolled his eyes.

“It's nothing, brother,” he said, dragging Kili away and out the back door where the others were going.

“People kissing you is nothing?” Kíli muttered but followed Fíli anyway.

Bard followed after a moment, catching sight of Beorn and falling in at his side.

"Kili," Fili said under his breath. "Stop it."

"It's not," Kili started to protest.

"Look, I get it," Fili murmured. "You're scared. And scared about me dying. Okay? But calm down."

"It's just," Kili shook his head. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Fili said, "I'm not thrilled either," he stopped and knocked their foreheads together. "I promise not to die, okay?"

"Actually promise?" Kili demanded.

"Yeah, yeah, actually promise." Fíli glanced around the back lot, where the others had all gathered, falling into small groups. Dis was next to Thorin, and specifically not looking toward him and Kíli.

"We've time yet before the portal is predicted to open," Elrohir said where he was half draped on Elladan's shoulders, though there was a tension to him that wasn't often in evidence.

"Demons might be drawn here," Gandalf said. "Someone should be in the alleyway, to catch stranglers."

"At least two," Glorfindel agreed.

"I'll," Bilbo hesitated, "I'll go with someone there."

Glorfindel's eyebrow twitched slightly, "Maybe three."

"I will," Beorn said. "I'll be able to round up stragglers quickly."

Bilbo looked at him and then nodded, "I'll bet you will."

"There is something about being able to turn into a bear," Beorn said and gave Bard another look before rambling away.

Elrond focused on Bilbo, "This isn't truly your fight, Fair One, are you sure you wish to stay?"

Bilbo drew himself up, "I happen to like this world, it's not just the affairs of the Big Folks here." Thorin arched a brow at him and tried not to smile. Instead he leaned down to ask Dis a quiet question, Dwalin splitting his time between watching them and Fíli.

Elrond's brow rose and his lips twitched ever so slightly, "As you choose."

"I should rather say so," Bilbo said, adjusting his shoulders under the vampire's gaze.

"So what exactly do we do?" Gloin asked, standing close to his son. "Just wait around until it opens?"

"More or less," Elladan started to say as there was suddenly a shrieking sound, coming closer. "Or not? What the fuck?"

"The other demons know it's opening," Gandalf said, looking up from where he had bowed his head and was frowning at the ground.

"Well fuck," Elrohir muttered, reaching for his knives.

Legolas' head snapped in that direction from where he was hovering near Gimli still.

"Damn," Galadriel said, turning and then pausing and facing the other way when another shriek went up in the opposite direction from the first.

"Do you think they're just welcoming their fellows or do they have another purpose in mind?" Fili asked, drawing his sword to be on the safe side.

"Likely the second," Glorfindel said, pulling his sword out. "While a welcoming committee would be good for them, it's far more likely they're here as added masses to keep us distracted from the portal."

“Yeah, that's what I figured," Fili said as the first one dropped down off the roof.

"Still too many of the bastards on this side of the portal," Bofur said and hefted the pickaxe he had used since the goblin caves, swinging it to meet an incoming demon.

"We should fix that," Fili remarked, stabbing another through the face.

“So business-like with the banter there," Elrohir said, stumbling back, his knives flashing quickly.

"What the fuck?" Fili asked, ducking another swing. "You got something better in mind?” Kíli beside him was deadly silent, slashing through any demon that dared tired to get behind Fíli.

"Not in the least," Elrohir said, the knife in his right hand coming up to block a swipe of demon claws as he dodged away from the creature and immediately had to duck another one.

"Than shut up," Fili said.

Glorfindel bared his teeth at the demons, his sword moving quickly, already coated in the black blood. He spared a glance away from his fight to seek out Erestor, moving half on instinct to block the demon that tried to take advantage of that moment.

Erestor looked around the parking lot, before jumping on a car and throwing several demons back with magic. Glorfindel had to yank his attention back, dodging back from a slice of a demon's claws that nearly scored his side.

Erestor hopped down and slammed his way to Galadriel's side. "There aren't that many demons here."

"You could have fooled me," she said, slicing a demon neatly in half, and aside from the black blood splatters on her white suite she looked totally unaffected.

"That's because they're coming _after us,_ " he said, gesturing between the pair of them.

"What?" Celeborn demanded as Glorfindel finally reached Erestor's side.

"Galadriel and I," Erestor said. "Are currently the targets of the demons." He shoved another back, right onto Glorfindel's sword without looking.

"Ori," Galadriel said, looking around with a look that was almost frantic.

"He's not included," Erestor said.

"It can't be after _magic_ then," Celeborn said, twisting his sword to slice a demon in half and counter another one in the same motion.

"No," Galadriel said, and paused, about to say something else when the ground around them started shaking and rumbling.

"Midnight already?" Glorfindel demanded as the demons on their side of the portal redoubled their efforts.

"Apparently," Erestor said as the ground glowed red and started to buckle, one of the cars crashing down and into the growing crater. Glorfindel's sword stuttered for a moment before he snarled, and sent it slicing through the demons again, backing a halfstep.

"Form up around the portal!" Thorin roared, the sound of his voice rising above the demon cries and the earth falling.

"Because that's so easy at the moment," Glorfindel snarled. Hunters and vampires alike moved to follow Thorin's order, still battling the demons that had come from the previous portal.

Galadriel swerved forward and ran into a practically solid wall of demons in front of her, all coming direct out of the portal toward her and Erestor. Celeborn, at her side, swore and brought his sword to bear even as the press of demons began to push them back.

"We have to close the portal!" Elladan yelled. "Why aren't we getting it closed?"

"You can give it a go!" Erestor yelled back, facing his own horde of focused demons, pushing him backward toward the club. Many of the others were being pushed back under the onslaught from the portal itself, much denser than the last ones had been.

"It's still not big enough for Smaug!" Galadriel yelled. "We have the time," and she was cut off, ducking down to keep her head.

"A portal with this much power, how big of a fucking demon will it take?" Elrohir shouted where he was at Elladan's side.

"I think we have covered that it will be bad," Thranduil said, still appearing calm in the midst of the battle, trying to fight his way back to the front.

"Enough to get us all to work together after all," Fili said just as another push started driving them back into the club, the music sweeping abruptly over them again moments before the screams started.

"Fantastic," Legolas said, ducking another demon and slashing out at it.

Arwen spared a brief glance over her shoulder toward the humans in the flashing lights of the club.

"Well they did say they wanted the end of the world," Kili said, hovering behind Fili, and driving demons away from his back.

"We have to get back out there," Fili said, and Thorin practically threw himself back out the door.

"We aren't going to be able to get to the portal at this rate," Erestor managed to yell.

“We're not going to be able to do much in here," Dori shouted.

"Then start pushing back," Elrond said, ducking a slash from one of the demons and slamming his sword home in it's throat.

"I'm sorry, what have you been _doing_?" Thorin still thundered, breaking back out into the parking lot and finding himself almost totally alone. For a second he stared before throwing himself forward, demons instantly blocking his route back toward the club and stopping anyone from following him.

"I have a plan," Ori said, appearing at Fili's elbow, having ducked through several demons and left Dori's side.

"Ori, what the fuck," Fili said, turning.

"They aren't going to be able to get out there," Ori hissed, and when Fili shoved him he ducked out of the way as Fili sliced his sword through the demon that had come after him. "I have to close the portal!"

"Can you do that?" Kili asked. "Can you _really_?"

"Someone has to," Ori hissed.

Fili looked around, and spotted Gimli getting thrown across the bar at the far end of the bar, hitting the row of glass bottles as the music abruptly cut out. "Alright," Fili said, "Kili--"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm following," Kili said.

Legolas snarled and backed up against the bar Gimli had just been thrown over, slicing through a demon's claws.

Partway across the club, the demons managed to split Galadriel and Celeborn from Glorfindel and Erestor, still focused on the portal sealers.

"They're coming after us," Erestor said, and looked around, realizing Gandalf was no where to be seen. "We should have seen that _coming_." He tried to break for the back door again and was shoved back hard enough his back hit the wall.

"They didn't focus on Galadriel at the last portal. There was no indication that it would be," Glorfindel said as they were pushed back further yet.

"Because they wanted to lull us into a false sense of security."

Glorfindel nodded once, a wild light in his eyes as he slashed at the demons, "And the hell of it is, they managed it."

"Those fuckers," Erestor snarled, as a demon pushed him down. Yelling, Erestor thrashed out. Before he could do anything else, a spear skewered the demon and threw it to one side, Bifur glaring at the other end. He rattled off something annoyed and swung his spear in the other direction.

"Fuck you too," Erestor said after a beat. Glorfindel hauled him up quickly, sword flashing out quickly to behead the nearest demon, and he snarled wordlessly.

Gimli crawled back up from where he had to catch his breath behind the bar in time for a demon to jump down from the ceiling, hidden for a second in the flashing lights.

"Gimli!" Gloin shouted from where he was fighting toward the bar, Legolas wheeling around at that, having to duck a demon as he did so.

Gimli scrambled up, looking around for a weapon and finding only a vodka bottle at hand. He broke it on the edge of the bar and when the demon jumped at him he stabbed the broken glass into it's throat. Legolas recoiled slightly, before dodging away from a demon's claws and lashing out with the light sword he carried.

At the door, Fili had finally broken through the demons trying to get in through, and he rocked back almost as quickly as Gandalf, forced into the side street, raised his staff and brought it slamming back down to the ground, sending off a wave of bright light and shattering sound.

There was a rattling hiss that emanated from the demons in the parking lot at that, and a mass of them turned to scramble in the opposite direction while several of the bigger ones turned toward Gandalf.

"Go, now," Fili said, and Kili shoved Ori in front of them, scowling when Fili took the point to wade out into the mass of demon's between them at the portal.

The larger demons were turned toward Gandalf, which gave them only a moment of distraction. Behind them, Tauriel broke out of the club too, her bow drawn and an axe at her side.

Inside, Bard stumbled, hitting one knee and Dis severed the neck of the demon that was going after him, "You should have gone with the bear."

Bard glanced at her and nodded, as he shoved himself to his feet and swung his sword out, though he wasn't making much headway, "Probably."

"Or stayed with your children," she remarked, slashing out at another demon and he simply grit his teeth, not responding to that.

Across the way, Erestor and Galadriel were being pushed back in opposite directions, as the rest of the demons started running for the front door.

"Block it off!" Dwalin thundered, unable to push through to where Thorin was outside. So instead he set himself up next to the door, swinging two axes. "It's a choke point make sure they can't get out."

Arwen found herself fighting side by side with Dori as they aimed for the door, "If they can't get that portal closed--"

"Don't focus on that for the love of things holy," Dori snapped, lashing out at a demon that got too close, snapping its neck.

"One thing at a time, right?" Elladan said, further away from the door than Awren. Across the club, Gimli was still using the bar as cover, having been thrown a cross bow by someone.

"Or one demon at a time as the case may be," Elrohir replied.

Elrond came up next to them a streak of black demon blood across his brow even as he sliced through another demon's arm.

There was a shout from near the wall of the club opposite the stage and a demon's snarl. Balin swung the sword he carried, but wasn't fast enough to counter the creature in front of him and turn around to face the ones that had circled behind. The claws ripped into his back and he fell, the demons carrying him to the ground under their numbers.

Dwalin turned at the sound of the scream, taking a step forward before realizing it was too late already. He punched an axe through the next demon's spine with a roar of rage while still trying to reach his brother's side.

Bombur and Bifur were closer, wading into the swan of demons just in case Balin could still be retrieved. Dori and Arwen took posts covering Bombur and Bifur's backs, weapons flashing in the still intermittent lighting.

Another scream, also cut short went up in the opposite corner, nearer to the door to the parking lot. Oin, forced into a corner and fighting valiantly was cut off and overwhelmed. Dis and Bard turned in that direction, but they were too late to do more than fend the creatures off of his body.

Dwalin started looking around, about to start yelling at people to reform before he realized that he couldn't find Ori anywhere in the mess. "Ori! Where is Ori?" Dori startled at that, turning to look and Arwen had to move quickly to prevent him being attacked from behind.

"I haven't seen him," Elladan said and sounded shocked, looking at his brother and then frantically around, focusing especially where Erestor and Galadriel were.

Elrohir spun to slice through another demon, watching as he went through the motion, "He's not the only one missing."

Bombur suddenly cried out, a demon's claw going right through his arm and tearing through muscle so that it hung limp and useless by his side. Bifur was instantly on top of the demon, cutting it into pieces and yelling at it the whole time it took for the demon to go down.

Dwalin paled, and started running for the door, only to be shoved back too quickly by the sheer press of demons. Dis looked around, realizing that the flashes of gold she saw were not Fíli's hair and turned for the door, the demons still pouring through it making that route an impossibility.

“We have to get back out there," Dwalin said, barely containing his fear.

"I'm open for suggestions," Erestor said, having been pushed back against the hunters.

"Around the building," Glorfindel said, slashing out at the demons that were still far too focused on Erestor. "Can't go through one door, but maybe the other." Dwalin nodded, turning and trying to follow the stream of demons out, who were still not allowing Erestor to move much of any way in the club.

But in the parking lot, Fili and Kili were cutting a swathe through the demons who were finally starting to notice them. "We need to kill a demon as close to the portal as we can," Kili said. "Ori is going to need that energy."

"Just one demon?" Fili asked, Tauriel covering their backs and Ori in the middle of them, as protected as he could be.

"I think so?" Kili said.

"That's all they've need before," Ori said, looking around and Fili was out in the front of the group, mithril sword cutting throw demons like butter. He suddenly stopped, tripping over something he barely saw. He righted himself, almost not looking down and coming to a complete stop.

"Thorin?" he whispered and dropped, Kili almost tripping over him. "Uncle!"

"That's," Ori started, and he was on his knees, checking for a pulse but the demons had torn through Thorin and kept going. There was only blood and flesh and bone left.

"We have to go!" Tauriel yelled, still behind them. Fili dragged himself to his feet, cutting the next demon that ran past him in half. Panting, he pivoted, his sword wrecking a path of destruction, Ori running after him.

They were almost at the portal's edge when a scream went up, heard all the way from inside the club.

Arwen pivoted toward the scream, glad she had no need of breath suddenly as she saw Galadriel fighting alone near the stage, Celeborn no longer at her side, no longer anywhere to be seen. Arwen froze and Dori battered off a demon that reached for her before she was able to get her sword back into motion.

All the demons around Galadriel had turned to dust as her scream finally came to a close. For a second she stood, her sword held away from her and only silence surrounding her as she stared at the ground. Just as suddenly she turned, running for the door and slamming into another wall of demons, a particularly large one picking her up and throwing her across the club.

Hitting the wall with her back, she collapsed before flipping herself back up, Elladan and Elhrohir running to her side. Elrohir glanced at Elladan as they fell in on either side of Galadriel, but kept silent, cutting down any demon that came near enough.

"The demons are starting to slow down," Dwalin said, jumping on top of the bar Gimli still hid behind. "But they're boxing us in!"

Legolas snarled at that as Arwen and Dori fought toward the front door of the club. The red glow was still just visible through the door to the parking lot, even with the neon disrupting their sight inside the club.

Outside, Ori hopped up on one of the cars that had not fallen into the portal when it opened, Fili and Kili back to back in front of him and Tauriel behind him. She had tossed aside her bow, and was using her axe now.

"Ori!" Fili yelled, cutting another demon in half. "You have to close the portal!" A roar sounded from inside, and less and less demons were scrambling to get out, as if they were letting something bigger than themselves pass.

"I'm trying!" Ori yelled back, and looked like he was grasping at air. "I can't--the lifeforce I need isn't coming from the demons!"

"What the fuck does that mean?" Tauriel asked, turning for a second and missed the demon under the car Ori was on top of. Its long claws twisted around her legs, pulling her down with an angry yell.

Kili turned, jumping over the car in question but already too late as the demon held ash in its claws and blood on its mouth. With a furious roar, Kili stabbed it in the face, as Fili turned all the way to stare at Ori.

"Ori," he started and Ori reached out, as if he caught something, his eyes widening.

"It's the demons," he said. "Their lifeforce can't close _this_ portal."

"Than what can?" Fili demanded, and Kili froze, pulling his blade back out from the demon in question.

"I don't think they have souls," Ori said, sounding dazed and distant, like he wasn't really focused on the moment.

"Ori!" Fili yelled. "Than what works?"

"Tauriel," Ori started. "I have--but it's still not enough!"

Fili froze, and he had half turned when another roar came out of the portal, shaking the ground and causing them all to fall over. For a second nothing came out of the portal and Kíli turned his head to look at Fíli, who was already staring at the portal again with his jaw set.

Kili recovered first, jumping right over the car rather than going around it, knocking Fili back to the ground when he tried to stand. "Kili!" Fili yelled, trying to shove him off but Kili grabbed the knife Fili always kept on the inside of his jacket and stabbed it through the collar of his leather jacket and into a crack in the cement. "Kili!" Fili yelled again, trying to tear the leather collar so he could rise.

"I'm sorry," Kili said, and Fili had almost gotten his arms wrapped around Kili to keep him where he was when Kili leaned down, almost too quickly to be felt and kissed Fili, the briefest touch before he was up and Fili roared after him.

The swarm of demons had turned into only one or two when several larger than normal demons ambled out, covered in red and black protrusions and Kili threw himself at them. He bounced off one's head with a kick and pivoted to the other.

"Hey, Ori!" he yelled as Ori started screaming his name too, hands still in front of him like he was holding on to something. "I believe in you!"

Fili got his hand around the knife and yanked it up, tearing the collar of his jacket in the process. It had only stopped him a few seconds, but that was all Kili seemed to need.

"Kili!" he screamed as loudly as he could, as Kili beheaded one of the pair of demons, and Kili turned at the sound of his voice, meeting his eyes as the other demon caught him and tore his body apart.

Fili screamed again, throwing the knife that had cost him so much time, and it nailed the demon between the eyes. It started to go down and Fíli had his sword in his hand again, cleaving its head from its body with another cry of rage and grief.

His voice couldn't match Galadriel's but that didn't mean he didn't try.

Still standing on the car and sobbing, Ori reached into thin air, wrapping his hands around something that couldn't be seen and yanked the fleeing lifeforce into his hands.

Another roar went up from the portal, the earth shaking everywhere, and the dumpsters to the side of the parking lot shook and started to fall toward the portal, the car Ori was on always dangerously tilting. But that didn't distract him as he wove his hands through the air and finally threw his arms at the portal, yelling as he felt the magic tear through his body and back out again.

Suddenly the earth was just earth again and the shaking stopped. Fili ran toward him, too late to catch him as he fell off the car. Fili collapsed next to him, the mithril sword dropped at his side and fumbled out, trying to feel if Ori had a pulse. Once he felt the barest pounding in Ori's neck, he rolled over and looked around the alley, panting. There was no movement, though he could still hear the sounds of battle from inside the club and perhaps down the street, a yell that sounded like Dwalin and the sounds of demons yipping.

But the demons had cleared out of the parking lot and he let his head drop against the concrete.

There was a low growl before a scaled hand came down, caging Fili to the ground, one of the claws digging deep into his right arm and pinning it to the pavement beneath, rendering it immobile, A serpentine head was only just visible past the growing claws, "Oh, Fire's Child, you thought it was over."

 


	35. I Will Always Defy You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies dear readers. It has been one hell of a year (in which real life was a bitch, VS was sick more often than not, and there were like 3 moves involved).

Fili screamed as the talon went through his arm, jerking it automatically, the mithril sword just outside the cage of the claws. He scrambled for it with his free arm, realizing that it was the one Kili broke so many months ago, his fingers struggling to close.

The demon drew his claws up, Fili trying not to scream as he was released. The demon looked around, forked tongue flickering. The huge form slunk backward, almost being lost in the shadows of the far side of the parking lot, but for the glow near the base of it's snake-like neck and the golden eyes that reflected the few streetlamps still standing and lit.  Two huge wings half unfurled from its back as its head swung. 

Fili had rolled over the instant he was released, fumbling for his sword and crying out when his right arm was jarred from where it hung useless at his side.

Teeth bared into a mockery of a smile as Smaug's focus narrowed on Fili, "I had not expected one of my own on this side." When the demon spoke again, Fili whipped his head around to stare, still trying to get the fingers of his left hand to curl around the sword’s hilt.

Distantly, he could hear a roar like Beorn was still in the fight, and more yipping screams from the demons. But around them was only silence, the battle having spread away from the portal and with it closed, no more demons came. “What?” Fili asked.

There was a low rumbling chuckle from Smaug, large and still growing in size, its tail twisting behind it, "I can smell it on you. Light, heat, fire, flame.  They've banked you to embers but it's not yet frozen out of you."

Fili's head twitched. "What the fuck are you on about?" he snarled, and realized Ori still hadn't moved from where he'd fallen. Slowly, he started shifting the other way, as if to draw the demon's attention away from Ori’s prone form. "I assume you must be Smaug then?"

"Oh yes," Smaug almost purred, its head turning slightly with Fili's movement.  "Child of the fire and air, do you really not know?  You don't belong to them.  These people of dark and stone."

"You're sprouting nonsense words," Fili said, looking around and there was still __no one__  there with him. Just corpses.

Smaug's teeth bared into that smile again as its claw caught on Thorin's body and it paused, looking down, "Am I?  These unyielding, carven, earth-bound creatures are not where you belong.  You're one of __mine__."  It turned Thorin’s body over with a claw, almost idly, "Flickering, so close to extinguished, always looking for more, more to do, more to see, more to __be__."

"I'm a hunter, not a demon," Fili said, and his eyes had frozen on where Smaug had placed its claw.

"Oh, child of fire, do you think that matters?  The demons you speak of are not mine."  It chuckled again, a tongue of flame darting from between its fangs and melting one of the dumpsters that still remained, catching the contents on fire.  "They are creatures of blood.  Creatures of the depths."

Fili's fingers gave up, dropping the sword he had managed to pick up. He stared down at it in horror and his head whipped back up to Smaug. "That's still not making sense," he insisted, and without taking his eyes away, he bent his knees, trying to pick the sword up again.

Smaug left off with its claws near Thorin, reaching toward Fili and pushing him back, one claw curling against the edge of the mithril sword and sending it spinning away, ignoring Fili’s cry. "Then you do not know yourself, Child.  Depths and depths of desire to move, to fight, to warm, to be more.  Golden child of fire and heat.  Suffocated under the stone of others."  Its lips drew back into a snarl as it looked back to Thorin, claws going back to turning him over once more, "Others like this one."

Fili's eyes darted frantically to where his sword was and where Smaug was, unsure which to focus on. "What do you __want__?" he demanded, not daring to check on Ori.

"An admission and a pledge, child," Smaug said, considering Thorin still before it curled a claw under Thorin, tongue snaking in and out past its fangs.

"Leave him alone!" Fili yelled, unable to bear it anymore.

Smaug looked up at that, "You've been convinced to care about these unyielding ones?" it chuckled, "What foolishness."  A flick of its claws and Thorin's body was momentarily airborn before Smaug's head darted out and its teeth closed with a sickening snap.  The crunch of bone and tendon was deafening in the lot, flames kindling at the base of Smaug's throat again.

Fili stood, frozen, before his gaze darted around the parking lot and found his sword in the crater of the portal which had turned back into concrete and earth. Without giving Smaug another look he started running. He tripped, and ended up rolling down the side, screaming when he landed on his arm.

Smaug's head turned, following his movement and the destroyer flicked its tail, sending the sword spinning again, "Now, now, Little flame.  There is no reason to be so stubborn.  You are not rock, fire is changeable and you glitter with it.  With the possibilities.  I could give you so much and yet you refuse the opportunities before you."

"What opportunity is that?" Fili asked, rolling over and gritting his teeth. His eyes tracked the sword and he wanted to lie down and let the pain swamp him but he shoved himself up with his left arm anyway, cradling his right against his chest. He also tried to ignore the fact Smaug was growing larger with each passing second, filling up more and more of the parking lot.

"The chance to do something with yourself.  The chance to remake things as you wish they were.  Think of what you could do with wealth before you, with power in your hands," Smaug purred, turning its bulk with surprising agility, its right wing beating once and creating such a wind it nearly knocked Fili off his feet again.

Fili stumbled back, and tried to figure out how to get himself out of the crater he had fallen down. Seeing a car that had been half swallowed by the portal he took a running jump at it, climbing up on top despite the pain. "You think wealth is something that would matter to me?" he demanded.

Smaug's fangs were visible in that smile again, "No, no you're right.  But it is so much easier to protect those you care for when you have those things.  I could give you that ability.  It is not such a great a thing as to be impossible for one like me."

Fili froze, his left hand reaching up for the rim of the crater. For a second he couldn't breathe, because Kili had been torn to pieces, and Thorin was gone, but Ori was alive last time he saw him and there was __Tilda__ \--

Slowly he turned back around. "I thought you were a destroyer," he said, forcing his voice level. "That doesn't quite dovetail with wanting allies or protecting people."

"Oh, child of fire, that is such a simplistic thing to say.  I am fire.  I am the inferno of a forest or city alight.  I am the flame of a candle and the warmth of a bonfire," Smaug said.  "Want has nothing to do with it.  It is my nature.  To destroy, to comfort, sometimes all at once.  Just as it is yours."

"If it's your nature you could never guarantee an offer of protection," Fili said. "You're a fire? Well that can burn down the house it warms too."

Smaug's chuckle was more a growl at that, "There is much for me to touch and burn before it comes anywhere near to __mine__.  Longer than your life would last, Little flame."

"Still not much of an offer," Fili said, and jumped, catching the edge of the crater and swinging himself up, even though it made his formerly broken hand seize up in pain.

Smaug's voice was a low rumble of thunder, "Is it not a better one than standing against me offers?  Destruction, sorrow, death and the inability to protect them?  After all, child of fire or not, what can you do against one such as me?"

Fili snarled, turning to him and winced to realize Smaug was now almost as tall as the buildings around them. He thought he heard a scream that sounded like Gandalf, a roar of rage. "I don't know," he admitted, eyes casting around for his sword trying to not look like he was.

"Would it not be better to agree?  To come with me.  Fire to fire, flame to flame and your loved ones stay safe.  I command the commanders.  They'll not touch those that are mine."

For a second Fili just closed his eyes, standing perfectly still. The creak and groan of Smaug’s bulk and the distant sounds of battle felt distant.

Smaug's voice was almost a croon, "Safety, protection.  No need to worry about them in the time to come.  The masses are here and they will remain.  But yours could be __safe__ , golden one."

Fili's eyes flickered to Ori but then he went diving to where he had finally spotted the sword.

Smaug growled, his tail lashing out, landing between Fili and the sword, "You would so openly __defy me__?"

Fili stumbled back and caught himself on one knee. "I'm a hunter!" he yelled. "I will __always__ defy you."

Smaug's tail twitched, the sword skittering away again, toward the club once more as he tipped his head back and roared a laugh toward the sky, "Oh, child of flame, you have nothing to fight with.  No friends, no __family__.  You're here alone.  No one coming, no one caring."

"I'm still here," Fili snarled.

"But for how long?" Smaug replied, turning toward him, claws digging furrows in the remaining pavement.

"Good question," Fili said, mostly to himself and dived under Smaug's tail when it lifted slightly, almost where his sword was. Smaug turned, executing a surprisingly tight circle, though he had to flap his wings once to keep his balance, the backdraft enough to set the few remaining cars rattling. Fili barely touched the edge of the sword when he had to duck down to stop from being blown over backwards.

There was a twang of a bowstring and Smaug growled, his head suddenly turning toward the door to the club.

Fili's gaze turned too. "Bard," he breathed. "Bard get __back!__ "

Smaug glanced toward Fili before turning its attention toward Bard who already had another arrow nocked.  Smaug bared its teeth in that mockery of a smile, "Creature of air and water."

Bard's jaw set and he let the arrow fly, though it bounced harmlessly off of Smaug's scales.

Fili wanted to yell but Bard was distracting Smaug so he slammed his heel on the edge of the sword's hilt, flipping it back up into his hand and he managed to get his fingers wrapped around it, holding on through the pain of old shattered bones. He dragged himself up on the dumpster that remained, thrown over and on its side, and then clambered up on the fire escape, breathing through the pain instead of screaming.

"You don't have any place here, creature of water," Smaug said, moving forward.

Bard drew back another arrow, his eyes narrowing, "From where I'm standing this is my world, not yours."

Fili was up on the third level of the fire escape, and for a second he had to collapse against the side of it, panting. He looked around quickly, noting where Bard was, and where Gandalf had finally freed himself from the demons in the alleyway, and where Dwalin was storming at last  out of the club, having tried to follow Bard.

He also saw where Ori lay, still totally still next to the edge of the portal. Somehow Smaug still hadn’t crushed him and Fili had to take another deep breath just to stay standing.

Balancing himself, he got his legs up on the fire escape railing and gestured at Bard, hoping he could see him, sword still in his left hand.

Bard spared a brief glance toward him, eyes widening before he returned his focus to Smaug and let another arrow fly.  It caught Smaug in the snout and caused the demon to recoil very slightly before a glow started deep in the belly of the beast.

"Hey!" Fili yelled, because he still wasn't close enough and Dwalin came to a shocked stop in the doorway, shaking a demon’s corpse off the edge of one of his axes.

Smaug's head snapped in his direction, fangs bared this time, "Reconsidering?"

"Oh, sure," Fili said, still balanced on the edge of the fire escape.

Smaug twisted its neck at that, the glow dimming slightly, but still present.  It curled its head a little nearer to the fire escape, "The offer remains, but, child of fire, you are quickly testing my patience."  Smoke curled from its jaws.

Fili smiled at it a moment before he launched himself, landing on Smaug's head and almost rolling right back off. Instead he caught himself on one of Smaug's scales, right over its eyes, pulling himself back up.

Smaug snarled, tossing its head, trying to dislodge Fili, stumbling back and starting to unfurl its wings. As it reared back, exposing its chest completely, another of Bard’s arrows hit its scales—and stayed embedded within its flesh, causing the demon to roar in pain. Fili almost slid off again before righting himself.

"Offer not taken," Fili said, and he barely had a moment to raise the sword, stabbing it into Smaug's eye with his left hand, using his knees to try and hold on. For a moment the mithril seemed to glow, an eerie silver light against the golden of Smaug’s eye.

Smaug let out a bellow of pain, the glow in its chest dimming to nothing as it thrashed, crashing downward as the sword pierced clean through, a final twitch as its head hit the ground and a plume of smoke as the fire in its chest was extinguished.

On the way down Fili had been thrown off, hitting the ground hard, sword still lodged in Smaug’s eye.

Even before the demon stilled, Bard dashed to Fili's side, his knees connecting with the pavement hard as he reached Fili, pressing two fingers to his throat and breathing out shakily when he felt heartbeat fluttered under his fingers.

For a second, there was silence, Dwalin frozen in the doorway, staring at Smaug’s corpse before his eyes snapped over to Fili.

"Fili?" Dwalin asked, shakily, eyes going to Bard.

"Still alive," Bard said.  "But he needs a hospital."

Before Dwalin could say anything else, on the other side of Smaug’s corpse, Bofur came running from where he had been at the side alley.

“What’s happened?” he yelled.

“The demon is dead!” Dwalin yelled, not being able to see Bofur over Smaug’s bulk. “Fili is hurt and I don’t know where—”

“Ori is over here!” Bofur yelled back, Bard still kneeling next to Fili, making a makeshift bandage out of the edge of his shirt for Fili’s arm.

Dwalin took a step, like he might run to Bofur. “Is he—”

“He’s alive!” Bofur called back. “I don’t—I don’t see anyone else on this side. But he’s not moving.”

“They both need hospitals,” Dwalin said, as if reminding himself there was still a chance for both of them. "Does anyone still have a phone?"

Bard patted his pockets and shook his head as Bofur checked his own, "I've got mine, cracked, but should still work." He wiped some demon blood off some of the keys.

"Call the hospital," Dwalin said and there were still demon yells down further somewhere, but he couldn’t force himself to move toward them, instead giving in and crawling over Smaug’s corpse, standing next to Bofur who was cradling the phone to his ear, his gaze drifting toward the alleyway he had come from.

"We need to find everyone else," Dwalin said and swallowed, looking around. Instead he leaned down, checking on Ori’s pulse himself, before he reached out to smooth his hair away from his face. He frowned when he realized some of the strands his fingers were carding through had turned white.

He forced himself to his feet again.

"Bard. Stay with Fili." Bard opened his mouth before sinking back down next to Fili again as Bofur connected with the hospital, quietly requesting immediate help.

“Alright,” Bard said and Dwalin nodded, hefting one axe over his shoulder and turning down the alleyway as sirens started screeching down the street.

-0-

Gimli shoved himself forward, ignoring the doctors and nurses yelling. "Are they okay?" he demanded, thick black demon blood still caught in his hair.

"We don't know yet," Dwalin said, shoving him back. "Everyone else who's injured, now would be a good time to have someone actually look at it, when there's a chance."

Dori approached, quickly, close on Gimli's heels, "How bad was he, Dwalin?"

"I don't know," Dwalin said. "Ori wouldn't wake up but there were no obvious injuries on him. Without Fili awake I have no idea what happened--" People were still running back and forth, trying to prioritize the injured. The hunters had started gathering near the doors to the emergency room as they trickled in from the battlefield.

"He closed the portal," Galadriel said, suddenly appearing at Dwalin's side. Only Dwalin's exhaustion kept him from jumping.

Dori turned toward her, "He, __Ori__  closed the portal?"

"Yes," Galadriel said. She paused, as if she didn't want to say the next words. "Without a proper focus."

Dori paled at that, "What is that going to mean?"

"It means whether he wakes up or not he threw part of his own life force into that portal," Galadriel said. There was almost pity in her eyes as she looked at Dori, though it was buried deep under sorrow.

Dwalin flinched, hands tightening and loosening and hospital staff was staring at them, with their gore covered weapons still mostly in hand. "Will he wake up?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "This portal was different. And they knew which of us to target. I never intended—" She fell silent. “It was never supposed to be him, for all the training and warnings we gave him.”

Dori let out an unsteady breath, leaning back against the wall for support, "Which means, what, they've been paying attention to this side of the portals?"

"Yes," Galadriel said. "They knew who had closed the last ones. They came after Erestor and I specifically."

Dori nodded, looking away toward the door to the emergency room, his arms wrapped around his waist.

"Can you do anything to help him?" Dwalin asked, voice tight.

"I do not know," Galadriel said.

"Are you able to try?" Dori demanded, anger almost covering the grief in his voice.

Galadriel gave him a long look. Her mouth curled before she forced her expression to relax. "Yes. I will try."

Dori swallowed hard and nodded, "Thank you."

Galadriel looked at him, eyes narrowing before she turned back to Dwalin. "That boy closed the portal. The other one killed Smaug."

Arwen slipped up quietly, coming to stand at Galadriel's side as Dori receded under her glare.  Dis spoke wearily from where she had also approached, "Dwalin, you've wounds of your own that need seeing to."

"They will hold until others have been treated," Dwalin said too abruptly, starting toward Dori and stopping before he finally turned to Dis. "No one has seen Thorin."

"I know," Dis said, her voice hollow.

"I don't," Dwalin started and Gimli suddenly made a horrified sound.

"Look," he said, pointing to where all the doctors and nurses not frantically rushing around the hospital had turned to the TV, which showed footage of Smaug rising up from the portal.

Dori made a quiet sound in the back of his throat and Dis moved closer toward the TV, trying to see what the newscaster had to say about the demon, more like a dragon than anything. Two reporters had been in a helicopter at the start of the attack, and had crashed on the roof of the club. Somehow they had not only survived, but remained broadcasting throughout the battle.

Dwalin went completely still, watching Fili scramble around the parking lot, chasing his sword and pausing to sometimes yell at the demon. Everyone else beside him had also gone silent.

The reporters who had caught the footage were going into hysterics the entire time, and the commentator in the studio wasn't doing much better. When Smaug picked up Thorin, who Dwalin had not fully noticed until that moment and ate him, Dwalin sat down hard in the middle of the walkway, burying his face in his hands. A nurse almost stumbled over him.

Dis swayed, catching hold of Dwalin’s shoulder before she sank down next to him, her eyes wide and cheeks pale, "No....Not...."

Dwalin brought his hands down in time to watch Fili go tumbling down the crater. “This already happened,” Gimli said, staring in shock, Galadriel and Arwen standing behind the hunters but also watching the screen. “This already happened,” he repeated, because it didn’t feel like something they knew the ending to.

Dis couldn't pull her gaze away until the segment ended with Smaug's death throes and returned to the newscasters in the studio, "It...he...Dwalin?"

"Yes?" Dwalin asked, not having removed his eyes from the TV even when it kept going. Behind him, Gimli just made a distressed noise.

Dis drew an unsteady breath, only just audible, "What are we supposed to do now?"

Dwalin slowly stood up, looking up and down the hallway. "Make sure everyone is treated for their injuries," Dwalin said. "Find a house to live in." He paused. “Keep going, one task at a time.” He had slowly been straightening his shoulders, not having reacted since he saw Thorin swallowed by the demon.

Dis paused for a moment and then nodded, "I'll go talk to--" she cut herself off as though she realized whoever she had been about to say wasn't there any longer.

"We focus on the essentials the next few days," Dwalin said, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes. "That is all.”

Dis nodded again before she excused herself, slipping down the hallway.

Dwalin nodded to the empty air, before he realized they were obstructing the medical personal desperately trying to get from place to place and started heading for a waiting room, the rest of the hunters mostly trailing after him.

Legolas hesitated where he had been hanging several feet behind the others before he slipped quietly over to Gimli's side, speaking quietly, "Hey." Gimli reached out, taking one of Legolas' hands and holding it silently. There was a bloody cut on his arm, and demon gore on his face.

Dwalin stopped in the doorway of the waiting room, watching those who entered it before he startled. "Has anyone seen Bilbo?" he asked, taking another look around everyone. "Or Gandalf?"

Bofur stirred from where he'd been speaking in low tones to Bifur and frowned, "Not since we left the portal site.  Not, I’m really not sure I saw them there either."

Dwalin's mouth thinned. "I don't suppose anyone has their cell phone numbers?"

"Pretty sure Gandalf doesn't carry one," Elladan said from where his brother and he were leaning against the wall together, holding hands and not looking after where Ori had been taken earlier.

Elrohir curled ever so slightly closer to Elladan, not quite resting his head on his brother's shoulder, "And it's not like most of us had much contact with Bilbo."

"Damn," Dwalin said.

"Maybe they'll turn up," Gimli said after a beat, thinking about the morning he had found Bilbo and Thorin in the kitchen that felt like a decade ago.

-0-

Bilbo stood at the edge of the portal crater, arms wrapped tightly around himself as he stared at the destruction and the dragon-like demon that in death took up most of the parking lot.  He drew a deep, shuddering breath and stepped back a pace from the crater.  The mithril shirt that Thorin had gifted him shifted under his clothes and made him twitch at the faintest whisper of sound and the feel of its movement.  He half turned at the sound of a footstep, carved out and tired as he spoke, "Gandalf."

"Bilbo," Gandalf greeted, leaning heavily against the tall walking stick he used. Dawn was barely peeking up over the edges of the buildings around them.

"I think," Bilbo paused, looking around again, "I think it's time I went home."  He winced very slightly at the way his voice cracked on the last word.

"Your apartment is still standing then?" Gandalf asked.

"It was this, sorry yesterday, morning, but that's not what I meant," Bilbo said.

"You're returning to your family then," Gandalf said, not a question.

Bilbo nodded, looking at the destruction spreading out before them, "I will say farewell to those, those that remain.  But I've seen enough of the world of the Big Folks to satisfy me for many years to come, I think."

Gandalf watched him for a moment with heavy eyes. "I give you back your name."

"I accept it back to myself," Bilbo said softly, feeling it settle back as his and his alone once more.  It was small recompense for the months that had ended in the parking lot.  He paused before he looked up at Gandalf again, "They will be alright, won't they?  The others?  Fili and Ori, Dwalin and Gimli?"

"I cannot see the future, Bilbo," Gandalf said. "I am not that powerful."

Bilbo bit back the first thing he wanted to say, knowing it was his own hurt that would be talking, before he nodded, "No, no I suppose that is much to ask."  He looked at the dragon and straightened his coat, "Well, that's, that's it then."

"Before you leave," Gandalf asked, something buried in his exhausted expression. "Is there anything you want to tell me about?"

Bilbo blinked, his hand instinctively going to his pocket where the magic ring rested before he forced it away and shook his head, "Nothing I can think of."

"I'm glad you are alright," Gandalf said after a beat. "I lost track of you for quite a while in the battle there. Couldn't see you anywhere I looked. I was quite worried."

"Fae are small, easily overlooked.  You know that," Bilbo said.

"I do," Gandalf said, still looking at him. "Yet I was concerned."

"As you can see, I'm fine," Bilbo said before his shoulders slumped.  "Or fine as I can be."

Gandalf hesitated before he rested a hand on Bilbo's shoulder. "But you will say goodbye to the others?"

"I will," Bilbo said quietly.  "I thought, I thought I might give them a little longer before I went to see them.  Perhaps, perhaps pack what I am taking with me first?"

"A good plan," Gandalf said. "Perhaps by the time you leave we'll know how some of the worst off are doing."

"I hope so," Bilbo said.  "I will...I will see you before I go?"

Gandalf nodded. "I will take another turn around, make sure there is no lingering magic."

"Alright.  Good, well, luck I suppose, Gandalf."

"And to you, Bilbo of the Fae," Gandalf said, still watching him intently.

Bilbo looked around once more before he nodded, sliding his hands into his pockets, one curling around the ring before he nodded and turned to leave finally.

Gandalf kept watching him before he sighed and leaned heavily against his staff. "Oh, child," he sighed before he started his long walk around the parking lot, looking for all the world like the old man he appeared to be as he shuffled around the dragon's corpse.

-0-

Bard sat in the waiting room, a little apart from the Durins.  He ran a hand through his hair, shakily.  He both wanted to get back and check on the kids, make sure they were safe, reassure them that he was safe, and to stay until he knew if Fili was going to wake up. Beorn had stopped by the hospital briefly after the battle but had quickly left, saying something about checking on them for Bard, but that wasn't the same. He looked around the waiting room, trying to figure out exactly who he could ask to tell him of any change before he shook his head and carefully pushed himself to his feet.

Dwalin was there a little too abruptly. "Are you alright?" he asked. Dark shadows were under his eyes, and he hadn’t sat down much since the battle had ended.

Bard startled back slightly at that, "Yes, fine.  I just...I need to go check on my kids, make sure they know I'm alright and see for myself that they are.  You'll, you'll tell me if anything changes?"

"I will," Dwalin said, eyes going beyond him. "But you might want to look through the door."

Bard's brow creased and he turned in the direction Dwalin indicated, moving quickly when he caught sight of Beorn first.

Beorn pushed open the door to the waiting room and Tilda ran through it first, flinging herself at her father. Bard went to one knee, catching her in a tight hug, "Tilda, darling."  He looked past her to Sigrid and Bain, holding an arm out to them which Sigrid quickly folded herself into.

Tilda climbed on his back and Beorn closed the door behind them. "I know the hospital isn't a great place for kids but--"

Bard looked up from where he was still holding his children close, "Thank you."  He carefully got to his feet, bracing Tilda until he was sure she was secure and then reaching back down to keep a hand on both Sigrid and Bain.

Beorn nodded, and looked over at where Dwalin was suddenly paying them less attention. "Any news?"

"Not yet," Bard said. “The new though, has been replaying the footage they got of the battle in the alleyway since we got here though. Apparently someone was out in a news chopper.  It....didn't stay air born."

Beorn arched his brows. "They must have been having a good night."

"Where's Fili?" Tilda asked, making sure to articulate her words.

Bard breathed out quietly at that, "He's seeing the doctor right now, Tilda."

"When will he be out?"

"We don't know yet, darling," Bard said quietly.  "He was hurt pretty badly."

"I hope he's okay," she said, her small hands curled in Bard’s coat.

"Me too," Bard murmured, getting an agreeing sound from Sigrid as well.

-0-

It was mid morning by the time Dwalin fell asleep in one of the hospital chairs, face almost gray. A newspapers classified section was draped over his chest.

One by one the hunters had down to the bathroom to clean off as much of the blood and gore as they could. But none had been able or willing to leave the hospital.

Bofur sat, fiddling with the one one ring he wore, watching Bifur sleep on the ground a little ways away. Fili and Ori hadn’t been the only ones rushed into the emergency room. Bombur was also in there, and Bofur couldn’t force himself to sleep no matter how much he tried.

“It’s not really over, is it?” Gimli asked, in the chair beside him. Legolas had gone with the rest of the vampires when morning came.

“What do you mean?”

“We closed the portals. The old vampires are, well, sorta our allies. I can’t imagine trying to kill them after this. But they almost never actually fought us, did they? It’s the fledges, the wild with blood lust vampires. And so many demons escaped us.”

“I thought you didn’t really want to be a hunter,” Bofur said.

“Want is pretty relative right now,” Gimli said, looking down and there were tear tracks on his face. “There’s danger out there. And no matter how much we want to stay and lick our wounds we’re going to have to keep fighting it.”

Bofur sighed, resting his head against the wall. “I guess so.”

“I give you even money that as soon as he wakes up, Dwalin is going to try and organize a patrol,” Gimli said after a moment and Bofur groaned.

“I won’t take that bet,” he said.

“We should,” Gimli said, looking out at the sky through the window. “We should try and sleep too.” It was a bright and beautiful sunny day outside. Inside the TV was playing the battle over and over again, as more and more people tried to make their opinions on dragons existing known.

“It’s a hoax,” one commentator said.

“How?” the anchor demanded.

“Someone has to stay awake, wait for news,” Bofur said, breaking through the debate on the screen.

“Rock paper scissors you for it?” Gimli asked.

Bofur paused before holding his hand out. He lost and pulled his hat down over the brim of his eyes, trying to sleep as he heard Gimli shift next to him.

-0-

Galadriel sat with Erestor on the steps of their mansion, her hands clasped together.

“Well,” she said after the silence had stretched on between them for too long. “The house is still standing. I’ve beaten your record.”

“Perhaps if you do decide to tear the house down, it may wait until nightfall,” Erestor said. “Though I can hardly fault you for the desire.”

“You believe we have souls,” Galadriel said. “Do you think we have any afterlife too?”

“I’m a magician, not a philosopher,” Erestor said. “I try not to think about what afterlife we may or may not have.”

“I understand why mortals turn to religion the way they do,” Galadriel said. “Hundreds of years together and already all I find myself hoping for is the chance to meet again, in some form or another.”

“You’ll learn,” Erestor said. “Slowly, surely, you’ll learn how to survive again. You always have, you more than any of us.”

“And sometimes all it makes me is tired,” she said, hands still clasped over her knees. “What will we do now.”

“We should stay here,” Erestor said and she glanced over at him in surprise.

“Honestly?”

“The hunters have accepted us,” Erestor said. “And we them. To break that alliance now would be foolhardy.” He paused, looking at the door as if he could see the city bathed in sunlight beyond it. “Besides, this isn’t over.”

“Isn’t it?” Galadriel asked.

“No,” Erestor said. “That last portal. It got far too large. The fabric between this world and theirs has become thinned by it. They will try again and again and again until they don’t even need to open portals anymore, they will simply be able to come into our world like walking through a doorway.”

“If they have the drive,” Galadriel said.

“We both know one of them does,” Erestor said. “And he will throw every demon between himself and our world at us until he came come and try to reclaim what is his.”

“This was just the battle in a much longer war, is what you’re saying,” Galadriel said. “You think it won’t stop.”

“Do you think it will?” Erestor asked, looking at her.

“No,” Galadriel said, her mouth set in a thin line. “No, it will not stop.”

“That is why we cannot leave,” Erestor said. “We need them too much.” His mouth twisted into a wry smile. “Do you think the humans will come to accept their new reality?”

“In time they will have to,” Galadriel said. “They will adjust, they always do.”

“After so many centuries,” Erestor said. “And you still have faith in the strength of men.”

“And after watching them survive, era after era, you still have so little faith,” she said. “They will prove  you wrong again.”

The corner of Erestor’s mouth twitched. “Perhaps this time they will succeed in convincing me to see things your way.” He stopped again, considering her before he reached out, taking her hands in both of his. “The boy will wake up.”

“Will he?” Galadriel asked. “We might as well have thrown him to the wolves of his own magical powers. He closed the portal with no focus.”

“But he will wake up,” Erestor said, and Galadriel turned one of her hands over to squeeze his.

“We should gather the others,” she said but they remained sitting there for a long time.

-0-

Ori woke up with a jolt, instantly starting to flail out because all he remembered was the portal in front of him and then darkness. He was screaming before he realized he was hooked up to wires and the quiet beep of his heart rate had gone into frantic overdrive.

Dori was in his line of sight in the next moment, "Ori, oh thank god.  You're safe, you're in the hospital." He tried pushing Ori back down on the bed.

Ori started pulling at the IV in his arm before bothering to wonder what it was for. "What happened? Where's Fili?"

"Leave it," Dori said, reaching out to stop Ori.  "You closed the portal.  Fili—He’s also here, he just hasn't woken up yet."

"Don't tell me--I'm fine I don't need--I need to be where he is, now,” Ori said, as frantic as his heartbeat.

"Ori, you just woke up.  The doctors still aren't sure--"

"I need to be where Fili is!" Ori yelled, still panicking.

"Ori, breathe. We'll see what we can do, alright?" Dori asked, still trying to coax him.

"You don't—Dori, all I remember is Kili dying I can't—he can't wake up alone." Ori’s hands had gone white clutching the sheets.

Dori paled at that and nodded, "I'll go fetch someone who can move you.   _ _Don't__  get out of that bed on your own."

Ori set his mouth and then nodded. "Okay, okay, I'll be good."

Dori hesitated for another moment, just looking at his brother, before he walked out of the room.

He returned a few minutes later with a nurse who moved over to Ori's bedside.  The nurse checked a couple of the machines, "Your brother said you wanted to be with your...cousin, correct?  He hasn't woken up yet, and the recovery room he's in isn't very big."

"I don't care," Ori said, barely holding on to his voice and not yelling again. “If he wakes up alone right now he’s never going to recover from it and you __know__  it, Dori.”

Dori considered him another moment before turning to the nurse. “Please,” he said, backing his brother up. “I’m certain you’ve seen the news like everyone else.”

The nurse stared at Dori for a long moment before nodding, "I'll go see about getting space ready in that room then."

"News?" Ori asked after a beat. He glanced at his bedside, seeing a remote.

Dori was watching the door where the nurse had gone before he turned back to Ori, "There was a news caster and cameraman who manged to film....most of the battle in the lot."

"They," Ori started and stopped. "What __happened__?"

 "Smaug made it through, likely just before you closed the portal," Dori said, drawing a shuddering breath as he sank down into the chair by Ori's bed.  "Fili, Fili managed to kill it."

Ori stared at him a long moment in silence. "But... but that was the point of closing the portal that it wouldn't—"

"I know," Dori murmured.  "But it didn't get past the lot.  And you kept it from, from being worse, Ori."

"But," Ori started and stopped when Dwalin came running into the doorway, sagging against the frame when he saw Ori sitting up.

Dori looked in that direction, tense for a moment before it eased somewhat, "Dwalin."

"I'm glad to see you're awake," Dwalin said and Ori's eyes flickered to Dori.

Dori nodded slightly, carefully getting back to his feet, "It's a good sign.  I—"  He broke off, looking unsteady for a moment before he shook his head.

"Dori," Ori said, reaching out for him and almost yanking too hard on the IV again.

Dori blinked, moving to take Ori's hand almost automatically, "I'm alright, Ori.  It's just....been a night. And a day." It was almost dark outside again.

"I know," Ori said. "I know about Thorin."

Dori stared at him for a long moment before he seemed to deflate, "I'll, I'll be alright.  You woke up, so today is already, already looking brighter."

"Dori," Ori started, Dwalin still sagged against the door.

"Please, Ori," Dori managed, shaking his head, "Don't."

"Brother, for fuck's sake," Ori said.

"Ori, I can't.  I almost lost you tonight and there isn't even anything of Thorin for us to __bury__ ," Dori said, paling as he realized what he had said.

"There," Ori blinked. "But—"

Dori winced, "You, I'm fairly sure I wasn't supposed to tell you that at this point."

"I really need to see Fili," Ori said instead of anything else. Dwalin moved away from the door, letting the same nurse come back in with a wheelchair. The nurse looked from Dori to Ori briefly, "We're all set for you in the other room now." Dori swallowed hard, nodding but looking away.

"Good," Ori said, stiff and pained. The nurse carefully helped him into the wheelchair, hanging the IV bag from the pole on the back of the wheelchair.

"Is this really necessary?" Ori asked.

Dori spoke before the nurse could, "Ori, please."

“Listen to your doctors,” Dwalin growled from the doorway.

The nurse glanced at Dori and Dwalin and then back to Ori, "Yes, it is.  You've been suffering severe exhaustion at the least."

Ori's eyes flickered to Dwalin before he nodded. "Okay."

The nurse nodded, carefully wheeling Ori out of the room and into one down the hall, leaving Dori and Dwalin in the same room.

“You should talk,” Dwalin said after a moment and Dori stared at him. “About Thorin.”

“So should you,” Dori snapped and Dwalin took a shuddering breath before letting it out.

“It’s almost dark,” he said instead. “I’m taking a patrol out, with Bifur and Bofur. Will you stay—”

“With my brother? And Fili? Of course,” Dori snapped and started walking out of the room. He paused when he came abreast with Dwalin, who despite his nap didn’t look rested at all. “You can’t really demand I talk, if you’re reaction to your grief is simply to go out and kill things.”

“We all deal with it in our own way,” Dwalin said. “You like words, I don’t. Talk to someone, even if it’s Ori.” He left down the hallway, leaving Dori standing there, head hanging down, before he slowly started to walk to Fili’s room.


	36. Things Aren't Going to Be Over

In the early hours of the next morning, before sunrise, Gimli leaned against Legolas' side on a bench outside the hospital. A book sat tucked against his side. Legolas looked out over the parking lot before he looked down at Gimli, "What are you thinking?"

"That there are demons still out there," Gimli said. "That the whole world knows now."

Legolas nodded, falling silent for a long moment, "The world didn't end, though. That's something."

"Yet," Gimli said. "Something tells me things aren't going to be over."

"No, that's, that's probably true," Legolas murmured.

"There's not a lot about portals or demons in Dori's library, for obvious reasons," Gimli said. "But I found, well, this book. I think it's a journal of a hunter a long time ago. It talks about—well. Once portals start opening it makes the fabric of them weaker. Or the fabric that holds our worlds apart weaker."

"And we've had four open in quick succession," Legolas said.  "I don't suppose that journal has anything in it about how to stop them from opening does it?"

"No," Gimli said. "More... based on what happened during their life time."

"Well, someone must have found something at some point. Galadriel might—” He cut himself off.

"I'm sorry," Gimli said after a moment.

Legolas shook his head slightly, "It's just, odd. To know you can live for centuries and longer and yet also know when you fall there's, well, nothing left."

Gimli squeezed his hand and couldn't come up with a single thing to say. "I'm not sure I really understood how vampire family stuff or relationships work but I'm still sorry."

"Thank you," Legolas said, pausing for a moment. "I'm sorry as well. For your losses."

Gimli looked away. "Thanks," he said gruffly. "I—I’ve still barely been able to sleep. Dad's out in the waiting room but—"

Legolas nodded very slightly, shifting his hand in Gimli's to twine their fingers together. "I heard Ori woke up?"

"Yeah," Gimli said. "Which means Dwalin might sleep sometime this week too."

"Is that likely to happen before Fili wakes?" Legolas asked, surprised.

"I don't know," Gimli admitted. “No. He passed out for a bit but I don’t think it was real sleep, you know?”

"What have the doctors said about him?" Leoglas asked.

"Nothing good," Gimli said. "Even before the concussion that knocked him out he wasn't in good shape." Gimli winced, because he had been there when the doctor started demanding who had abused the boy to Dwalin’s face.

Legolas glanced at Gimli at that, "Hopefully better news comes sooner."

"Yeah," Gimli said, looking away again.

Legolas slid his hand from Gimli's wrapping an arm around his shoulders instead.

"There's a lot of interesting stuff in this book," Gimli said after a while, forcing his thoughts away from where they were going.

"Oh?" Legolas asked. "Like what?"

"This hunter knew they weren't human," Gimli said. "So it must have been an early one. Stuff about this demon called Sauron, stuff about lifespans."

"Lifespans?" Legolas asked, bypassing talk of demons for the moment.

"I mean, it's confused and I can only read so much of it," Gimli said. "But hunters, they're supposed to live longer and this one was mentioning the possibility of extending that even more."

Legolas' brow creased, "Long lived with the ability to make it more so? That..." For a moment they sat together, something oddly like hope opening up between them.

"It's all hypothetical at this point," Gimli said. "We don't know anything, not conclusively."

"Well, no, but it's, it's a starting point," Legolas said. "It means there's a possibility."

Gimli looked over after a beat. "A possibility. Yeah."

"I mean, if that's something you want to, well, pursue," Legolas said after a moment.

Gimli paused, tilting his head up to the sky. "It's a lot to think about right now. But it's something—to maybe move toward."

Legolas nodded very slightly, looking toward the horizon, "Something, anyhow. Are we, um, still an us then?"

"Were we ever not?"

"Well, I mean, the world was ending and we'd said it was stupid to waste that, but the world isn't....ending immediately at the moment. And I know it's one more thing, and I also know I could take the conversation about lifespans as answer but I've also made a lot of assumptions and think it might be better not to," Legolas said, turning to look at Gimli.

"Well the world literally just didn't end so I think we have a bit of a grace period before actually having that full conversation," Gimli said after a beat.

Legolas snorted before he nodded, "Okay, yes. That's probably true."

"Yes, I think so," Gimli said, smiling slightly.

Legolas hesitated for a moment and then leaned down to kiss Gimli. Gimli curled his hand in the front of Legolas’ shirt and breathed into the kiss, trying to focus just on that, and not the pain or the worry under his breastbone.

-0-

Fili woke up suddenly, panic clogging his throat and the pain that medication couldn't fully contain convincing him he was still on the battlefield and it wasn't over—

He started thrashing, trying to figure out why he couldn't sit up, why he couldn't get his eyes to focus, and hands were suddenly pushing him back down. "Fili! Fili, boy, calm down," and he continued to struggle before he registered the voice.

"Dwalin?" he asked, closing his eyes and holding on to the hands keeping him down.

"Yes, lad," Dwalin said and Fili took the first full breath he had since waking up.

"You're okay, Fili," another voice said and Fili's eyes snapped open, head whipping around on the pillow which made him dizzy to see Ori on a hospital bed nearby, sitting up and watching him.

“Ori?” and he thought he heard footsteps running around, out in the hallway.

Before Ori could do more than simply smile there was a quiet sound from the doorway, Bofur standing there holding library books that were probably meant for Ori. His gaze was fixed on Fili though, "You're awake, oh thank—" He couldn’t finish and Fili flexed his hands on where they covered Dwalin’s.

Dwalin stepped back, letting go of Fili's shoulders and for a long moment Fili just stared at Bofur. "You're okay."

Bofur nodded, moving toward Fili's bed, setting the books down as he did so, staring at Fili like he couldn't quite believe he was seeing him, "Yeah. And, and you're awake, you're alive."

"Guess so," Fili said after a second, as if he was still processing that too.

Bofur hesitated before he sat down in a chair next to Fili's bed, "I'm glad."

Fili curled his hands in the thin hospital blanket, eyes darting to Ori and trying not to move his head too quickly again. “I—”

Dori entered at that point, a steaming cup of what was probably tea in his hands. He paused upon seeing Fili, "Good to see you awake."

"So everyone has kept saying," Fili said, and reached a hand out since Bofur was sitting so close to take one of his. Bofur curled his fingers around Fili's as Dori moved over and offered the tea to Ori.

"Is this nurse approved?" Ori asked, taking it one way or another.

"Yes," Dori said. "Sort of."

"Not that I care right now," Ori said, taking a sip and slowly his shoulders were starting to lower.

"Ori, what happened to your hair?" Fili asked suddenly, because it had taken a while for his eyes to focus enough to notice the thick white streaks.

"Galadriel said there was a magical draw," Dori said quietly where he was standing next to Ori's bedside.

"Something about accidentally using my own life force," Ori said and shrugged. "I think—I think no matter what happened the portal was too big. For one magic user, I mean."

Dori looked pained beside his brother and Fili tensed, his hand unconsciously tightening against Bofur's. Bofur's attention snapped to Fili and his fingers twitched against Fili's in silent question.

"Thorin," Fili said tightly, not able to get any other words out.

Dori tensed visibly at that and looked away as Bofur brought his other hand up to clasp both of them around Fili's.

"He—" Fili turned to look up at Dwalin. "He—"

"We know," Dwalin said softly. "There was—someone filmed the battle. We saw it replay that first morning. We know, lad, you don't have to tell us."

"They got surprisingly clear footage," Dori said, worrying at the sleeve of his shirt, his tone flat.

"They," Fili blinked. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

Dori shook his head slightly, "Don't be. There's no reason for you to be."

"We weren't there. I couldn't save—not even the body," and Fili started shaking.

Bofur shifted forward, hesitating before he reached for Fili, "It wasn't your fault."

"I should have done more!" Fili snapped. "I can't bury __either__  of them now!"

"Fili," Bofur started to say.

"You did everything you could," Dori said quietly.

"It doesn't help," Fili said, looking away. "Can everyone just—go?"

Dori paused and nodded, murmuring a quiet goodbye to Ori before slipping out. Bofur rose but didn’t move yet, looking between Dwalin and Fili until Dwalin finally left the room too.

"Sorry," Ori said. "We're roomies for the moment."

"Alright," Fili said, rolling on his side.

Bofur hesitated in the door for another long moment before he followed Dwalin and Dori out.

"One of you should stay here," Dwalin said. "Just in case something happens."

Dori opened his mouth but Bofur spoke first, "I'll stay."

Dori hesitated at that and then nodded, "Thank you."

"Thank you," Dwalin echoed and took a deep breath, letting it out before he finally spoke again. "I'll go tell the others that at least he's awake."

"I'm going to go check on Gloin and see if there's anything I can—" Dori broke off and shook his head, before he cleared his throat and left.

Dwalin glanced at Bofur. "Are you sure you will stay?"

Bofur nodded, "Yes. It's alright, I'll stay."

"Is Bombur doing alright?" Dwalin asked after a second, like he truly did not want to know the answer.

Bofur glanced away at that, "He's lost the arm, but he'll be alright. He woke up for a bit."

"Good," Dwalin said, shifting from foot to foot before leaving. He walked slowly back to the waiting room they had taken over the first moments after the battle and had refused to leave.

Dis looked up from where she was sitting, a cup of coffee in her hands, "Dwalin?"

"I wanted to let you know," Dwalin said. "Fili is awake. He's not doing particularly well, but he is awake."

"Oh thank god," Dis got to her feet before the second part of Dwalin’s sentence seemed to register. "Not doing well?"

"Physically, the doctors say he will probably recover, especially now that he is awake," Dwalin said. "Otherwise? No, he is not doing well."

Dis tangled a hand in her hair, letting out a slow breath, "It was a hell of a fight. He'll get there."

Dwalin stared at her for a long moment. "He said he should have done more," he said. "Should have been able to bring at least one of them home for burial." He shook his head. "I wanted to tell you but I think it would be best if you don't go see him for a while."

"I think that's probably true," Dis said, looking away after a moment.

"There are others I need to check on," Dwalin said, turning away.

"Thank you, Dwalin," Dis said, returning to her chair.

"You're welcome," Dwalin said flatly and left. For a long moment he stood in the hallway, his arms crossed as he breathed deeply, remembering when they had all been a family. Now he told Fili’s mother to not go see him, despite the relief evident on her face that he was alive.

Finally he forced himself to keep moving, making the rounds to the other, smaller waiting room nearby. Dwalin found Bard sitting with his kids, Tilda on his lap as he read to them, something he'd picked up in the hospital gift shop.

Bard glanced up as Dwalin approached and carefully marked the place, handing the book to Sigrid as he rose, setting Tilda down where he had been siting, with a gentle kiss to her hair, "I'll be right back. Wait here."

"It's not bad news," Dwalin said, but he stepped out with Bard back into the hallway.

Bard let out a slow breath at that and nodded, "Is he awake?"

"Yeah," Dwalin said. "I don't think he wants to talk to anyone yet but he's awake and coherent."

Bard looked in the direction Dwalin came from before nodding, "Thank you for telling me.  It's...it'll help to be able to tell the kids."

Dwalin stared him down. "Yes, the kids. How has finding government sponsored housing been?"

"Slow, but I'm supposed to go meet with some people later today," Bard answered. "Lot of people displaced."

"And for once in the world's recent history no one can deny demons exist," Dwalin said with a shrug. "Though I'm sure some people will still protest it didn't really happen. Hopefully that means the housing will be a little more secure."

"Yeah, sure, sometime in the next few years, if we're lucky. Certainly not in the first round of housing, or even likely the second or third," Bard said.  "They're putting things together fast and cheap and that means secure is not the top of the list."

"Gimli has been talking to the vampires again," Dwalin said. "The young lad, bushy red hair. He says that there's indications these portals weakened everything." He considered Bard again. "It means it's probably not over."

"Fuck," Bard muttered. "Of course it's not over."

"For today it is," Dwalin said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Maybe even for the next few years. Probably just long enough for everyone to forget about it. But they will come back."

Bard snorted, "You're not very good at the reassuring thing are you?"

"No, it's not really my style," Dwalin shrugged. "I've lived this reality my whole life, traveled the world fighting vampires. Demons, well, demons are something else entirely. We can only hope the vampires are wrong and the world is safe after this."

"They haven't seemed to be wrong about these things so far, not the big ones at least," Bard said.

"Yet," Dwalin said. "Everyone has the chance to make a mistake, you just have to wait around long enough. Good luck with your housing," and he turned away again, knowing there were still more people to check on, to give the only good news they had had in days.

He hesitated though, almost willing to ask Bard a question before he pushed it back into his lungs and kept moving.

-0-

Bilbo made his way carefully through the hospital, having gotten Fili's room number earlier.  He was making certain to exude a sense of "don't notice me, nothing of interest" enough that he managed to reach the room unaccosted. He tapped lightly and slipped inside, glancing around and catching sight of Ori asleep in the other bed before he moved over to Fili.

Fili turned his head from where he was staring out the window, having turned the TV off earlier. "Bilbo," he said in some surprise.

Bilbo's lips twitched upward into a smile that vanished almost immediately, "Hello, Fili. I'm glad, I'm glad you're awake."

"Thank you," Fili managed, shifting and wincing when he pulled on the iv.

Bilbo flinched at the thanks, but dropped his attention to tugging on a thread of his coat sleeve to distract from the itch that the gratitude placed between his shoulders. He looked up again after a moment, "What's your prognosis?"

"Good," Fili said. "It will take a while. My arm needs surgery but they wanted to make sure I was stabilized I guess." His eyes flickered down. "It's amazing what the body can heal from."

"It is," Bilbo agreed, quietly. "I came to, to," he slid the satchel he carried from his shoulder, bringing it around to dig through it, "Well, there's, there's books for Ori and well..." he trailed off and finally managed to get his hand around the tupperware container of cookies he had brought for Fili. "I know it's not much."

Fili looked at the cookies for a second in confusion. "You didn't have to bring anything."

"I know," Bilbo said. "I wanted to." He carefully set the books down by Ori's bed, knowing they were the sort of things that would be both interesting and useful.

Ori peeked over from where Bilbo's entrance had woken him up, and he had been trying to go back to sleep.But he remained silent, letting Bilbo mostly focus on Fili. Fili's eyes followed Bilbo, the tin held loosely in his lap. "I'm sorry," Fili said.

Bilbo kept his gaze on the books for a long moment, swallowing before he nodded slightly, "Me too."

"I should have been faster, I should have made sure he hadn't gone out alone—"

Bilbo turned at that, looking at Fili, "You weren't the only person there. Thorin wasn't.... he wasn't your fault."

"He was my uncle. I should have done more."

"You did everything you could," Bilbo said quietly.

"Perhaps," Fili said, dropping his eyes. "What... what are you going to do now?"

Bilbo looked toward the door and then back to Fili, "I'm, I suppose I'm going home. I came to say good-bye."

"I'm," Fili started and shook his head. "I'm sorry to see you go."

"I'm sorry to leave. But it's, it's time," Bilbo said quietly.

"Does it have to do with Thorin?" Fili asked.

Bilbo paused for a long moment before he nodded, his shoulders dropping, "In no small part, yes. I can't stay."

"What do you mean?" Fili asked.

"Thank yous are settling under my skin and I don't...have the strength to push through them to stay any more," Bilbo said, quietly. "I will miss you all, but this world....it wasn't made for my kind to remain in."

"I'm not sure it was __designed__  for anyone to remain in," Fili said and Ori suddenly seemed a lot more alert, staring at him. "But. Th—I'm glad you came by before leaving."

Bilbo nodded, looking briefly toward Ori before focusing back on Fili, "Take care, please."

"I'll try," Fili said after a moment.

Bilbo nodded, "Good bye, Fili. Ori."

"Have a safe journey," Fili said.

Bilbo nodded slightly, hesitating for another moment before he slipped out of the room. He made his way back down the hall to where he suspected the others might be. He hovered at the end of the hall, looking into the waiting room and finally spotting Dwalin, crossing to him quickly.

"Bilbo," Dwalin said in surprise, paperwork spread out on an end table in front of him, his sprawl trying to secure a temporary house.

"Hello," Bilbo said, hating farewells with no promise of reunion.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Dwalin asked, a little warily and uncertain.

Bilbo dug the last item out of his satchel, a second tin of cookies, "I just...wanted to say good bye. And give you this."

Dwalin frowned at the tin for a second before looking up. "Cookies?"

Bilbo nodded very slightly, "Yes. The recipe's in there too. I know, I know it's not much."

"No," Dwalin said. "It's something and that means everything." He looked down at the tin again.

Bilbo drew a deep breath, "Take care of yourself, Dwalin."

"I'm going to try," Dwalin said. "I'm going to try and take care of all of us." He laughed, not sounding amused. "I probably need some luck for that."

"I'm not very good at luck, I'm afraid," Bilbo said. "But I wish you all you may have."

"That means a lot, thank you," Dwalin said. "And... For the cookies."

Bilbo twitched slightly at that, the itch under his skin growing more insistent, "You're welcome."

"Sorry," Dwalin said when he realized what he had said.

"It's fine," Bilbo said. "I'm leaving from here to go home, it'll readjust there."

"I understand why you're going, even if I'm sad to see you go,” Dwalin said, the ghost of Thorin practically standing between them as they tried to make it through the parting.

"I'm sad to be going," Bilbo admitted. "I'll miss all of you."

"I hope you can find peace when you go home," Dwalin said, face serious.

Bilbo paused for a long moment before he nodded very slightly, "Thank you."

Dwalin's brows went up. "So it doesn't bother you yourself to say it?"

"It does a bit, but there isn't the same compulsion to leave with it," Bilbo said. "I just....It needed to be said." He looked toward where Ori and Fili's room was, "I've left Ori books.  I expect they won't make Dori very happy, but they were, well, what I had."

"The world is going to be different now," Dwalin said. "Dori will find a way to adjust with everyone else, in whatever ways that requires. And I can't say I much appreciate it either, but we need all we can get about the world beyond vampires."

Bilbo nodded slightly, "They're...not much, but they will hopefully help. Mostly about our lore, some about how to avoid accidental time spent in our lands."

Dwalin stared at him a long moment. "That's good."

Bilbo ducked his head, managing a small smile at that, "They seemed of use." He straightened again and squared his shoulders, "I should...be on my way."

"Find peace, where you go, Mr. Baggins."

Bilbo offered him a fleeting, sad, smile and a quiet farewell before he left.

For a long time Dwalin sat, looking at where he had been before he put his head in his hands.

-0-

Elrohir glanced at his twin as they made their way through the hospital halls, "I really hate how it smells in here."

"But we're here for Ori," Elladan said.

"Which is the only thing that got me back through the doors," Elrohir said. "Because it's Ori."

"We are so screwed," Elladan sighed.

"You're just realizing this?" Elrohir asked.

"No," Elladan said, dodging a harried looking nurse. "It's just striking me all over again."

Elrohir hummed, carefully sidestepping around a cart and then falling back into step with Elladan, "We really should have been more careful about it. Not that we ever are."

"I was about to say," Elladan said, and spotted Ori standing under one of the TVs in the waiting room nearest Fili.

Elrohir paused, blinking toward Ori for a moment before he swept across the waiting room, "Ori."

Ori turned, eyes widening. "Oh. Hello. I didn't expect—"

"Seriously, you didn't expect us to visit?" Elladan said in some disbelief.

Elrohir's eyebrows rose, before he cleared his expression, "Honestly, Ori, how could we not?"

"Well, I mean, just that it's here," Ori said. "In a hospital."

"It's not like this is a church or something, we can come here," Elladan said. "Besides you haven't __left__ here for days."

"What Elladan said," Elrohir said. "We wanted to see you. See for ourselves that you really were on your feet."

"Well, I am," Ori said, spreading his hands out. "See? Totally alright."

"Ori, half your hair is white," Elladan said.

"What happened?" Elrohir asked, reaching out to touch it, but stopping just shy.

"You already know the answer to that," Ori frowned. "Don't act like you don't."

Elrohir's lips pressed into a thin line, "That's not—Fuck. How much of your own.....how much did you use?"

"I don't know," Ori shrugged. "I had two life forces in my hands and it wasn't even enough."

Elrohir ran a hand over his face, swearing again.

"Oddly, swearing about it doesn't really help," Ori said, and there were lines of exhaustion around his eyes. Even after he had been allowed up by the nurses, he had been sleeping most of every day and every night.

"Nothing that will, is there?" Elrohir asked, his voice sharp before he winced.

"Not really, no," Ori said, giving him an unimpressed look.

"Come on, you can't blame us for being surprised," Elladan said.

Elrohir took a half step closer to Elladan, his fingers tapping agitated on his leg as he glanced at Ori and then away again.

"Both of you can stop it," Ori sighed.

"You're right," Elrohir said after a moment and it looked like he was swallowing back a half dozen things he wanted to say.

"Or you can say what you really want to," Ori shrugged. "Just stop acting like you're on eggshells, it's frustrating and enough is frustrating already—"

Elrohir bared his teeth for the briefest of moments before he calmed again, going back to tapping an agitated rhythm on his leg, "You carved who knows how long off an already mortal life." As soon as he said it he looked like he wished he could take it back.

"Yeah," Ori agreed quietly. "But at this juncture the world didn't end so I'm calling that a longer life than I would have lived otherwise."

Elrohir's rhythm lost it's beat for a moment before he nodded, "Yes, that's, yes, okay."

Ori arched a brow at him. "You think I'm happy about it either?"

"No, of course not," Elrohir said.

Ori shook his head, resting his head in one hand. "Sorry. It's been a really long few days."

Elladan glanced at his brother before reaching forward, dragging Ori into a hug.

Elrohir hesitated for a long moment before all but curling himself around both of them.

"Okay, this is still weird," Ori said, resting his head on Elladan's shoulder.

"What is?" Elladan asked.

"The lack of heartbeat," Ori said, and sighed softly.

Elrohir drew back enough to move and rub a hand over Ori's shoulders, "Sorry."

"It's not your fault," Ori said. "It's not even bad it's just—oh. Is the sorry about the other thing?"

"Little of both. Mostly the other thing," Elrohir said, ducking his head.

"We're all adjusting," Ori said. "To, uh, everything."

"Yeah," Elrohir murmured. "How did your brother take it?"

"How do you think?" Ori asked with an almost laugh. It came out more like a choking sound. "Poorly. But he's not talking about it."

Elrohir made a quiet sound in the back of his throat, curling closer again, "Can't say I'm surprised."

"You two are even worse than he is," Ori sighed after a beat.

"We've had longer to practice," Elrohir said with a wry twist of his lips.

"Practice what? Being clingy?"

Elrohir shifted to glance at Elladan before he nodded, "Yes, something along those lines."

Elladan shook his head at him slightly but didn't say anything. "People are staring," Ori mumbled.

"People do that," Elrohir said but he finally uncurled enough to take a half step back, putting a very little bit of space between them.

"We're just glad you're okay," Elladan said.

"You know, I'm thinking about dying my hair," Ori said, almost casually.

"You'd look lovely in purple," Elrohir said and then winced almost imperceptibly.

"Not what I meant," Ori said after a beat. "But also not necessarily a horrible plan. Oh, I could do streaks. They wouldn't even need to bleach it first."

"I hear tell the bleach is the worst of it, so that's certainly a plus," Elrohir said.

"I mean you can't do it too often, that's for sure," Elladan said. "The bleach, I mean."

"And it can be a bitch for sensitive scalps," Elrohir supplied.

Ori flickered a smile at them both, a little rough around the edges. "Thanks. So purple streaks, is that were we ended up going?'

Elrohir nodded firmly, "Definitely."

Elrohir's head snapped toward the main hall into the waiting room, his senses focused in that direction before he relaxed ever so slightly.

Dwalin hesitated when he entered the waiting room before making his way over to Ori and the vampires, giving them a searching look as he approached.

"What happened?" Ori asked, instantly pushing forward to meet him.

Bofur came a few steps behind Dwalin, Elrohir's gaze flicking over both of them, "You've been out hunting."

"Someone still has too," Dwalin said and scowled at them. "Vampires are still active on top of the demons."

"Uh, that's not us," Elladan said. "You know that's not us, right?"

Bofur eyed him and then nodded slightly, "We've been puttin' that together."

"Fledges," Elrohir said, leaning back slightly.

"The vast majority of vampires don't live past their first century—hell their first year," Elladan said. "It's just blood lust and turning each other. Usually vampires are made by other new born vampires. They can become quite an epedimic sometimes."

"Doesn't mean just because you get older you stop killing people," Dwalin said, eyeing the distance between them and Ori.

"No. But it means we do it a lot less. We don't __need__  it as much. We also exert a lot more control and restraint," Elrohir said, his eyes narrowing.

Dwalin frowned at them before shaking his head. "Well, it's not like our alliance isn't still going to be doing some good."

Elrohir nodded very slightly at that, "Still demons to deal with for a long while yet."

"Not everyone is going to agree to that," Ori said quietly. "Keeping the alliance, I mean."

"I thought Thorin was your hardliner," Elladan said and both Ori and Dwalin stared at him. "Oh. This is a sensitive moment again isn't it?"

"It's complicated," Bofur said.

"Seems like everything is," Elrohir replied, rocking back on his heels.

"There are reasons there are so many hardliners among us," Dwalin said, voice flat. "We have been hunting vampires for generations. A few well spoken ones don't change the prejudice of a thousand of these so called fledges."

"And also insulting Thorin's memory is not a good idea," Ori added.

"Still working on this being sensitive thing," Elladan muttered.

"You'd think after so long you'd be better at it," Bofur said, frowning.

"Wasn't needed so much in our last life. We're working on it," Elrohir said.

"Or this one," Elladan added. "In fact you could say sensitivity is actively discouraged."

Elrohir nodded, motioning toward Elladan in a "what he said" sort of way. "Hard to be what we are with it."

Dwalin gave them another considering look before turning to Ori. "But you're doing better?"

"Fine," Ori said. "I noticed the pack of reporters camped out on the front step though, now that I'm up and about and looking out windows."

Dwalin winced. "Because most of us weren't in the parking lot at the end we're getting much less attention from them, but yes, they've been there more or less since the footage of the battle aired."

"The hospital staff is getting more frustrated by it by the day," Bofur admitted.

Ori rubbed a hand over his face. "Whole new world indeed," he muttered. "Have we at least found emergency housing?"

"We're....working on that," Bofur said. "There's a lot of us and not really anything for that many people. We...may have to split at this point."

"Like hell we will," Dwalin muttered. He’d bought a new burner phone from one of the last working Wal-Marts in town just to yell at the housing authorities.

"You really want Fili moving back in with Dis?" Ori asked under his breath. Dwalin gave him a long look, something haunted in his expression like he already knew the answer was no but hadn’t wanted to say it yet.

Bofur glanced at Dwlain, "So it's taking longer. Mostly because of the sheer number of people we're trying to house."

Dwalin gave him a long look. "We'll share rooms, like we haven't before." He turned to Ori. "What?"

"No, I'm serious," Ori said. "Fili was already on the edge. He needs somewhere to actually heal.""

“I know,” Dwalin said shortly and Ori considered him a moment before he nodded, allowing Dwalin not to answer for the moment. Elrohir opened his mouth and then closed it again.

Bofur, on the other hand, spoke, "No, Ori's right. Fili's....it's not going to be good."

"Do you suggest him living alone?" Dwalin asked. "It's not--It's not about him and his mother. I just do not know if he can separate himself from this life."

"No. I don't think he’ll be able to separate himself, but I don't think he should be near Dis either," Bofur said frankly.

"Well, it's a moot point, for now," Dwalin said. "After all, it's not like Fili is being released any time soon."

"Have they any estimate for when that's going to happen?" Elrohir asked quietly.

"A couple more weeks," Dwalin said. "He'll have a cast after that for a while."

Elrohir blinked and then nodded at that.

Ori rubbed a hand over his face again. "Shit," he muttered. "Next time the world's set to end, can we leave him out of it?"

"We could try but I don't think he'd let us," Bofur said.

"We could lock him up in the basement for a few months," Ori said and then glanced at Bofur. "Have you been checking in on him?"

Bofur nodded, "Yeah."

"Good," Ori said. "That's—good. You're in for the night now, right?"

"Yes," Dwalin said. "It was much easier to hunt when no one realized what you were doing. You know someone asked for my autograph today while we were chasing some demons?"

"Any pretenders yet?" Ori asked, more focused on Dwalin than the twins and Elladan glanced at Elhroir behind his back.

"I don't want to talk about it," Dwalin sighed. "Kids thinking they can kill demons now too."

Elrohir returned his brother's look even as Bofur spoke, "And there's probably going to be more as time goes on too. Not a damn idea what they're doing."

"Damnit, this was never a responsibility I wanted to have," Dwalin muttered.

"You've got people to help with it," Bofur pointed out.

"Yeah but, Dwalin's always been our trainer," Ori said before Dwalin could respond. "So you're going to make this personal, aren't you?"

"I'll try not to," Dwalin muttered into his beard.

Elrohir glanced at Elladan, "We should..."

"Go before it gets light?" Elladan said. "Ori, it was good to see you." His eyes flickered to Dwalin again and away.

Elrohir nodded, focusing on Ori for a moment and then on the other two before looking back to Ori, "We'll see you later."

"Thanks, thanks for coming," Ori said.

Elrohir nodded, "You're welcome. Take care."

"You two be careful too," Ori said, walking them to the door of the waiting room. "With the demons and fledges and everything. Wait, do fledges attack other vampires?"

"Yeah, because they're pretty mindless at that stage," Elladan said. "Don't worry, we've been careful before."

Elrohir hummed, and nodded his agreement, "Long practice at it. Good night, Ori."

"Yeah," Ori said, leaning aginst the door and watching them leave, Elladan twining an arm around Elrohir's waist. "Lots of practice."

He waited a few moments after they had left before turning to Dwalin. “Now, are you going to tell me what you’re thinking about Fili?”

“No,” Dwalin said.

“But you are thinking something,” Ori said. “I know you are, I can see it. Just—It has to be what’s best for him, you know? Even if it’s not best for us.”

“I know, Ori,” Dwalin said and sighed, reaching a hand out to rest it on Ori’s shoulders, as if drawing strength from the touch. “I promise,” he added. “I am thinking only of what might be safest for him.”

-0-

Fili woke up slowly, the sky still dark outside and he frowned. Turning his head he startled, letting out a hiss of pain to see Thranduil standing there. "What do you want?" he asked, dragging himself up on his elbows.

"You should be more careful," Thranduil said, cocking his head to one side before he sat in the chair next to Fili's bed like he was quicksilver, falling gracefully.

"I'm fine," Fili hissed. "That didn't answer the question."

"I suspect you'll not want to see any of us again, no matter what the official line about our alliance is," Thranduil said.

"How astute of you," Fili said.

"Yes, well," Thranduil said. "You probably won't be able to avoid Glorfindel forever. He may not want childe but he's become attacked to you almost by accident, and mostly by stint of being attached to—well, your brother."

"But you don't think that will be a problem for you?" Fili asked, feeling his stomach turn over like it had every time he thought about Kili.

"Some might point out it is difficult for me to become attached to anything, let alone by proxy to someone else," Thranduil said.

"Then what exactly is it you want?" Fili asked, shaking his head slightly. "Why come to me?"

For a second Thranduil was silent, watching him. "I wanted to apologize."

"What?" Fili asked.

"I took your brother from you, when you had so little time left," Thranduil said. "I hurt you by that. You lost time, the use of your hand, because of it."

"Why did you turn him?" Fili asked, abrupt and sudden, like he hadn’t planned on asking. "What was the __point__  if you were going to be sorry for it?"

"I looked into Galadriel's mirror," Thranduil said. "No one really understands it. It is some old, ancient magic, older even then we few who have seen the ages pass. It shows the future, but only glimmers at a time. I do believe it has driven people mad, as they look into it too often, desperate for more hints."

Fili started shaking his head again when Thranduil paused but he continued just as suddenly. "I saw the end of the world. I saw a boy, standing in the mouth of a portal. and then I say that same boy, dying. Fledges had gotten him and I stood there thinking damn, there goes the fate of the world, bleeding out in front of me."

"So you turned him," Fili said, softly.

"It was right of me," Thranduil said. "That doesn't make it any easier to bear, I suspect. Even if he hadn't almost died that night, his vampire strength got him to the edge of that portal when he needed to be. Whatever the course of events, the world was saved. But I still took him from you."

"Yes," Fili said, voice thick. "You did. Whether you understand it or not, you took so much from me that night."

"I'm good at taking things I cannot return," Thranduil said softly, looking past Fili out the windows. "I never wanted him as a childe. I think I made his time more difficult for that too. He was my means to an end, not a fully formed being to me. All I could see was Thorin in him and I wanted nothing to do with him."

"You can stop now," Fili said, watching him, his voice shaking. 

Thranduil bowed his head for a second, and when he raised it, he brushed his hair back from his face. "He was angry, you know, at me. I never blamed him. He said he was done with being people's toy, with being told what to do with his life. He was sick of following the paths others had laid out for him. I couldn't tell him the path I put him on was a larger destiny than my own. But, I don't think destiny is capable of controlling us."

"I don't—" FIli started.

"He chose to save the world," Thranduil said. "Because he chose to save you." Fili stared at him, pale and still. "That was entirely his own destiny, that he made for himself. He saved the world because of it, but his act was entirely his own. Perhaps you never cared for talk of destiny and fate, and never thought of your brother in those terms. But know that in the end it was he who made that choice. To save you above anything else in the universe."

"Leave," Fili managed, a rasp, unable to take his eyes away from Thranduil. "Please, just go."

Thranduil inclined his head again before he nodded and rose. "I'm sorry," he said. "For everything I did to you." He turned, closing the door softly behind him.

There was a quiet sound from down the hall, "Ada? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same," Thranduil said after a moment, gathering himself back behind his mask of disinterest.

Legolas considered him for a moment, "I was seeing if Gimli had come to see his cousin."

"He wasn't in there," Thranduil said, starting to walk away.

"You didn't answer my question," Legolas said, moving to fall into step with Thranduil.

"And I have no intention to," Thranduil said.

Legolas growled something quietly before shaking his head, "Of course you don't."

Thranduil stopped, turning in the hallway and making a motion like he was considering shoving Legolas' shoulder. "Why would you need to know?"

"It just doesn't seem like a place you would come," Legolas said.

"I had loose ends," Thranduil said. "I don't like them."

Legolas offered him a long look and then shook his head, "Of course. Well, since Gimli's not here I guess I'll get going then."

"He seems to be standing right there and staring at us," Thranduil said, without even looking down the hall.

"Fucking kidding me?" Gimli muttered.

Legolas looked in that direction, his eyes lighting up, "Gimli."

"How did he do that anyway?" Gimli asked, approaching the pair.

Legolas shrugged, "I don't ask because he doesn't answer."

Thranduil gave him a look before shaking his head and starting to walk down the hallway.

"Okay then," Gimli said, turning back to Legolas. "Anyway, I was trying to do some more reading. A lot of Dori's books survived the portal, so I was trying to see what I could. Thorin had a lot more of the specific hunter histories, but—"

"Any luck?" Legolas asked quietly.

"None at all," Gimli said. "If there's knowledge of extended lifetimes among hunters, I think we've lost it."

Down the hall several feet Thranduil stopped completely.

Legolas turned slightly at that, looking toward Thranduil, "Ada?"

"What?" he asked, Gimli hesitantly looking down the hall at him too.

"You know something," Legolas said, tilting his head at his sire.

Thranduil turned and approached them again, staring at Gimli the whole time. "I did not believe it was still possible," he said. "It might not be. Your blood has become too diluted over the centuries."

"But there's still a chance? For this—For them to have a longer life?" Legolas asked.

"There's always a chance," Thranduil said.

The tension in Legolas' shoulders eased slightly at that answer, vague and skeptical though it might be.

"But it was difficult centuries ago, let alone now," Thranduil said. "To unlock that heritage you'll have to go on a journey and it won't be easy. I don't even know or understand most of it, because well, I've never needed to."

"Do you know where to start?" Gimli asked, arching a brow.

"Answer me this seriously, Gimli son of Gloin, child of the hunters," Thranduil said. "Do you know what you're asking? You are speaking of leaving your family and home to go on a quest to try and gain a life far longer than most mortals are afforded. It will be difficult. You will watch everyone you loved as a child grow old without you and die. It will be no true immortality. But close enough to seem it. And that's if you make it."

Gimli blinked at him. "Yes," he said. "Yes, I understand that."

"Then come," Thranduil said, motioning him forward. "We should talk. Not here, the smell of this place is too much for me."

Legolas stared at his sire in outright shock at that, blinking for a long moment before looking to Gimli.

"So," Gimli said, watching Thranduil walk down the hallway. "Are you following him?"

Legolas hesitated before nodding, "Yes, I...think so. I'm surprised he, well, it doesn't matter. Yes."

"Alright," Gimli said, starting to walk before glancing back at Legolas.

Legolas shook himself out of his surprise and moved to catch up, falling into step with Gimli.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sequel hooks what sequel hooks??


	37. Where we can see the stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS. GUYS.
> 
> We've been writing this story since March 2013. IT HAS BEEN A VERY LONG RIDE and as I stand here, I honestly can't believe it's actually finished. (I mean, could I ever really let this verse go? no. But this massive piece has been finished). (This is perhaps the best birthday gift I've given myself in a while)
> 
> I'm actually super emotional about this, especially as this story was very much my baby. 
> 
> Here's a [ final fanmix](https://8tracks.com/victoriousscarf/i-m-not-my-own-it-s-not-my-choice)(sadly still hosted on 8tracks until I find a better option) with some spoilers for the end. 
> 
> Thank you all for hanging out with us on this journey for the past four and a half years.
> 
> Signing off, VS

“Do you think they’re ever going to stop playing that footage?” Ori asked, sitting next to Dwalin at the hospital, the only two besides Fili currently there.

“No,” Dwalin said, and he’d walked in on Fili watching it several times already, like he was obsessively trying to figure out a way it could have gone differently.

Ori sighed, leaning further back in the uncomfortable hospital chair, crossing his arms and considering Dwalin beside him for a long time. “How’s the prefab shelter?” he asked, because even though he had been discharged, no one questioned him still sleeping in the bed shoved into Fili’s room.

“Shelters,” Dwalin said. “There’s more than one of them, but they’ll suffice while we build the house.”

“Think we can make it a little less decrepit?” Ori asked, wanting it to be a joke, only it wasn’t at all. He was also trying not to think about how much smaller it might end up being, without as many people needing to live there.

“Galadriel has been kind enough to draw up plans for us,” Dwalin said, like he wanted to burn the plans in question but couldn’t quite make himself. “It’s—Impressive. Very streamlined, with practice rooms already included.”

“Do we even have the money for a plan like that?” Ori asked, eyebrows going way up. “She has… pretty refined tastes.”

Dwalin breathed in and out again. “Yes,” he said.

“How?” Ori asked, bringing one of his knees up to his chest, curling his arm around it.

“Well, between the city being apparently very thankful,” Dwalin said. “And offering us shocking discounts, Balin and Oin both had life insurance.”

“Fuck,” Ori said. “Is that really what we all collectively decided to spend our money on?” He paused. “There was Nori too.”

“That was for you to go to college,” Dwalin said quickly.

“And you really think that’s happening now?” Ori asked, staring at him. “After all this, you think I’m just going to meander over to college? For what? What could I possibly even go to college for?”

“Ori,” Dwalin said.

“No, Dwalin,” Ori said. “It’s not even that,” and he stumbled, unwilling to mention his probably significantly shortened life to Dwalin. “I’m needed here,” he said instead. “I’m not leaving.”

Dwalin looked away for a long moment and Ori found himself watching the news, even though nothing new had come on for several days. “What about Thorin?” he found himself asking suddenly. “He must have had a policy too—”

“He did,” Dwalin said. “It’s Fili’s more than anyone else, for whatever he might want.”

“You don’t want him to turn around and reinvest it into the family,” Ori said.

“Gloin and I are both old now,” Dwalin said. “Gloin is giving some of it to Gimli, but he’s long since made his choice. So have I. That doesn’t mean that you and Fili have to stay.”

“Where else would we go?” Ori asked. “I know—I know I said Fili shouldn’t be around Dis. But where do you think he’s going to go?”

“I don’t know,” Dwalin admitted and Ori suddenly hit the chair armrest, turning fully to face Dwalin.

“You’re not talking about it,” he said. “You’re not talking about Balin at all, let alone Thorin.”

Dwalin froze, his hands curling into fists. “What exactly am I supposed to say?” he demanded. “There is too much to do—”

“They were both your brothers,” Ori said. “You can’t just keep pretending to be okay—”

“I’m not pretending!” Dwalin yelled and instantly pushed himself further back in the chair. “I’m under no illusions I’m doing okay. Right now I’m just existing.”

Ori’s breath caught and he looked away. “I just. It’s just—”

“Ori,” Dwalin said, and he sounded exhausted.

“I know Thorin meant the world to you,” Ori said, hands twisting in his lap. “He—He meant a lot to a lot of people, for that matter.”

“I admit I’ve been putting off holding any sort of service until Fili has at least the option of coming,” Dwalin said, looking at the wall. “Even if there’s nothing to bury.”

For a long while they sat in silence, Ori staring at the far wall, occasionally chewing the inside of his cheek. “Look, Dwalin,” he said finally, Dwalin glancing over at him. “This is a really bad time, for, uh, this. But you know what?” Dwalin made a confused sound. “There’s not really ever going to be a good time, and I just spent years watching someone who never told the person they loved they loved them until it was too late.”

“Lad,” Dwalin started but Ori had reached over, curling his hand in Dwalin’s shirt and pulling him to lean over the hard arms of the chairs, kissing him.

It was a brief kiss, more a statement of intent than anything else and Ori’s hand shook from where it was still holding Dwalin’s shirt. He drew back just as quickly, dropping back into the chair and staring at the far wall.

For a long time Dwalin didn’t move before he carefully pushed himself back into his own chair. “Ori—”

“I’m pretty sure I don’t want to hear what you’re going to say,” Ori said, still staring at the wall. “It’s simply—I know you’re older. I know you were around a lot when I was growing up and it’s weird. Okay? It’s just,” and he finally looked over at Dwalin. “My brother adored Thorin, and never told him. And like, what was the fucking point of that? To love someone you see every day and never, ever let them know? And now he’s dead and what could have been can’t be so,” he took a deep breath and let it out. “So I get it if you don’t—want—to do anything. I’m sorry if I made it weird. But you deserved to know and I deserved to have you know. If, if we can still just be friends after this, that would be great. But—but if we could ever be more, than I, than we, deserve that too.”

He talked himself into silence, looking down. “Now if you want to protest you can.”

Dwalin sat in silence a long time before he finally sighed. “You are still very young.”

“And yet I feel like I’ve lived a hundred years,” Ori said, sinking down further in the chair.

Dwalin hesitated again, before he reached out, taking one of Ori’s hands in his, making Ori startle. “I don’t know,” he said. “Ori, I don’t know. But I care about you, I always have. No matter what I always will.”

Ori looked at their hands and swallowed hard. “But this—This is something different.”

“Yeah,” Dwalin agreed.

“Look, I, I understand—”

“You need to give me time, Ori,” Dwalin said. “To figure it out.”

Ori looked over at him in some surprise. “What?”

“I can’t say what my answer might be,” Dwalin said, shaking his head slightly before stilling again. “I admit I hadn’t considered it. But, you’re right, maybe we both deserve to find out.”

Ori stared at him. “I admit, that was not the reaction I was expecting.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Dwalin asked.

“No,” Ori said, a little too quickly. “No, it’s—It’s good.”

Dwalin squeezed his hand again before letting go. “You should consider going to the—Well, it’s not a house yet. But I think it might not be bad for you to get out of the hospital for an hour or two.”

“Yeah,” Ori said, not quite an agreement as he looked down. “I’ll. Next time Dori stops by I’ll see about it. For a couple hours.”

Dwalin hesitated again before he nodded and left the room, going to check on Fili again. Deflating, Ori let a long breath out, resting his head on the wall behind him.

-0-

Bofur paused outside of Fili's hospital room before he knocked lightly and stepped inside, "Fili?" he asked, looking sideways at the small pile of flowers and stones and other almost offerings clustered around his door.

Fili looked over from where he had been looking out the window again. "Oh. Bofur. Hey."

"Mind if I join you?" Bofur asked.

"I don't mind," Fili said. Bofur offered him a brief smile before moving over to sit next to him.

"Is there, is there anything I can do for you?" Fili asked. There were still bruises obvious everywhere, and he was still too pale, but he was sitting up in the hospital bed finally.

Bofur shook his head, "No, just came to see you. See how you're doing."

Fili stared out the window for a long moment before turning back. "I'm alive," he said.

Bofur breathed out slowly at that, nodding, "You are. That's, that doesn't have to be a bad thing."

"Right now it's just... a thing," Fili said.

Bofur nodded, "We're here if you need us. Ori and me I mean. Others too, but..." he winced when he trailed off, knowing they weren’t quite the right people.

"I know," Fili said. "Of all the things I've known that's been one. You made very sure of that." He paused, looking away. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Bofur said quietly. But had Fili fell silent, and wasn’t looking at him. At first Bofur allowed that, weighing whether he wanted to speak or not. "It wasn't your fault, you know."

Fili tensed, still not quite looking at him. "What wasn't?"

"Kili, Thorin, both of them, either of them," Bofur answered.

"It's not like I did enough either," Fili said, and his hands were curled in his lap, knuckles on his right hand white.

"You did everything you could," Bofur said quietly.

"Funny how that's never actually enough,” Fili said, the bitterness leaking through.

Bofur sighed softly at that, "You saved a lot of people."

"I wish I cared more," Fili said after a beat. "About other people. I—I really don't like watching the news right now. But I’ve still watched it over a dozen times. Trying to figure out what I could have—But. The point is that people know now. They can’t deny demons came out of the ground. They’re just realizing it’s not safe.”

"It wasn't before either,” Bofur said and looked out the window now too.

"Most people could pretend," Fili said.

"Yeah. But we never could," Bofur said.

"I'm sorry for everyone else who just woke up to it," Fili said, rubbing the back of his left hand along the stubble on his chin. "It won't be a kind transition for them. It's not a world I want children to have to grow up in."

"So we do what we can to make it a little bit safer," Bofur said. "It's never going to be safe, but… We do what little we can."

Fili looked away again, not speaking. "Funny," Fili said flatly, softly, half of a thought unvoiced. "You know, a lot of it is funny."

Bofur's brow creased at that, "What?"

"After all that and I don't give a damn about the world I saved," Fili said. "It's... funny."

Bofur swallowed, forcing himself not to look away, "Not sure that's the word I'd use."

"I find it funny," Fili said. "Can't tell if that's good or not."

"Ori's still here," Bofur said. "I'm still here. There are others too, Fili. I know we're not—” He broke off and shook his head, "But we're here. You don’t have to care about the whole world you know."

"You want to know the funniest thing?" Fili said after a silence that stretched for just a moment too long.

Bofur hesitated before nodding, "What?"

"Kili did the one thing that meant I could never actually kill myself," Fili said. "That I'd have to fight to keep myself alive. Because the last thing—the last thing he did was—" He broke off suddenly.

"Was sacrifice himself for you?" Bofur asked quietly.

"In place of," Fili said. "Either way. I think he knew and it," he barked out a laugh that hardly sounded amused. "It's terribly funny."

"He cared about you. Loved you," Bofur said. "He didn't want you to die."

"Doesn't mean he couldn't also have been a manipulative little shit sometimes," Fili said, almost keeping his voice level.

"Yeah, he really could be," Bofur agreed.

"It's just," Fili started and gave up, hiding his face behind his hands.

Bofur hesitated before sitting down on the edge of Fili's bed, reaching out a hand to rest on his shoulder. Fili shook his head, looking like he didn't want him there, but he didn't move to push him away as he bent over with the sobs that racked his body.

Bofur drew his hand back at that, but didn't move away otherwise, uncertain of what he should do for Fili in that moment. After another few hysteric breaths Fili turned, burying his head in Bofur’s chest and Bofur brought his hands up to wrap them around Fili’s shoulders, holding on as he cried.

Outside the room Bard froze as he had been about to knock on the door and see how Fili was doing. For a while he just watched Fili, who had been quiet and still when he had visited, clinging to someone else before he started to take a step back as if to leave.

“I wouldn’t take it personally you know,” Ori said, having appeared beside him while he was distracted.

“What?” Bard asked, glancing over as Ori bent down and picked up a white pillar candle with a picture taped to the front that had been left in front of Fili’s door.

“Him not crying around you,” Ori said, turning the candle around and frowning at it and then the small pile of flowers and what looked like at least one religious icon. “I’ve been his best friend since he was three and I’ve never seen him cry.”

“I’m not taking it personally,” Bard started to say, and Bofur had noticed them standing there through the glass of the room, though Fili hadn’t yet.

“Really?” Ori asked, setting the candle down and looking at him. “Look. I’m just saying. This pattern happened the first time Kili died too. He closed himself off and didn’t talk to anyone and finally broke down in front of Bofur. It’s not ‘cause they’re exes, it’s because he’s already done it so he can do it again.”

Bard stared at him a long moment before shaking his head. “It’s fine. I wasn’t—”

Ori gave him an arched brow. “How’s the house, anyway?”

“It’s fine,” Bard said. “We, well, were given one of the houses still standing. Beorn is living with us at the moment, but I think he wants his own.”

Ori worked his jaw, as if he wanted to ask something and couldn’t quite bring himself to. “I can’t imagine why you got the luck of the lottery there.”

“Well—” Bard started, missing the sarcasm.

“Bard, you were caught on television shooting at a dragon,” Ori said. “I’m not surprised at all. The only reason the mayor hasn’t been in here every day, shaking Fili’s hand for a photo op is because Dwalin made some concise threats about leaving Fili alone until he got out of the hospital.” Ori looked down again. “I wonder if he’s noticed people leaving offerings for him.”

Bard looked from the flowers to Ori and back. “I don’t think he has.”

“I think he’s ignoring it,” Ori said. “He saved the world. Everyone saw. But he can’t get past how fucking guilty he feels about the whole thing.”

“Do you think he will?” Bard asked as Fili finally seemed to run out of tears, though he didn’t lift his head from Bofur’s chest.

“Come on,” Ori said. “We should grab, I don’t know, coffee. Pretend we didn’t just stand here watching that.”

Bard looked at Fili again, sunlight catching his golden hair before nodding. “Alright.”

Ori led the way, well used to the hospital by that point. “I’m a little surprised Tilda isn’t here every day.”

“Fili wasn’t sure he wanted to see her,” Bard replied. Ori sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes as they walked. “You think it’s the guilt again?” Bard asked.

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Ori said. “Plus, I guess, with how he looked when he first woke up. He’s—Well, even I noticed he’s really protective of your kids.”

Bard stopped walking and Ori took a few steps further before he stopped. “What?”

“I didn’t want to say anything,” he said, almost considering still remaining quiet. “But—I think Beorn is expecting me to ask him to move in with us, and he’s waiting around for that.”

Ori paused, expression caught between hope and anger. “And are you? Going to ask him to move in with you?”

“I don’t know,” Bard said. “It seems a little forward. You’re his family, and I just—I just want to help him but I don’t even know where we stand. I visit most days, and he doesn’t talk to me.”

Ori chewed the inside of his cheek. “Dwalin and I have a revolving fight about Fili. We both agree he shouldn’t live with us, but can’t figure out what should be done instead.”

“What?” Bard asked, looking at him in obvious shock.

“You may not have noticed he doesn’t get along with his mother,” Ori said. “Last time—Look, I’m not saying Fili’s breakdown wasn’t coming long before Kili, and I’m not saying it was all his mom’s fault but fuck, they drove each other deeper into their respective psychosis. And with Thorin gone now too, and Kili all over again? It terrifies me what he might do. Or what she might do. Not to mention being surrounded by all the same people but _missing_ so many people? Fili’s gonna take a long time to heal and I’m not sure we’re the good place for him to do it.” He paused, looking at the ceiling. “I’d never ask you to take him in and he would never ask to go somewhere else. But if you want him there—”

“I don’t know,” Bard said. “I care about him but I also have no idea what he’s thinking most of the time. The kids like him now, even Bain. Even Beorn changed his tune about the Durins.”

“Yeah, even I got the feeling he didn’t really like us,” Ori said.

“There’s apparently a history I still have no idea about,” Bard said.

“Yeah I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of that,” Ori said. “Even stuff we’ve forgotten about.”

Bard nodded, looking back to where they had just left Fili’s room. “The kids have made me pretty wary over the years,” he said. “I can’t sometimes even believe I wish he lived with us. And not even because of how I feel about him—But because he was sick and hurting and he still saved them.”

Ori considered him. “But you do care about him? As him, not just as a convenient kid protector?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Bard said, the power of it surprising even himself.

“Well,” Ori said, looking away. “It’s not as if Dwalin isn’t going to build a space for him. It’s not even like we live that far away anyway. It’s not even like he’d agree for sure. Sometimes I’m not even sure he’s ever going to recover from this. But, before this all went down,” Ori stopped again. “You know how when I came over when he was sick and I said I was telling you all this stuff just so you wouldn’t hurt him? It’s like that again right now. But before this went wrong again, he said that for the first time in a long time he could finally imagine a life away from this family and all it’s expectations and pain. With you, specifically. So if you want that, if you want to give him the chance to see, then do it. But don’t do it to hurt him anyway more than he’s already been hurt because I swear to fucking god I will hurt you if that’s the case.”

Bard looked at him, the streaks of white in his hair, and nodded slowly. “I know the amount of faith you’ve put in me,” he said softly. “I’m going to try my best to not waste it.”

“Yeah, well,” Ori looked away. “All I really care about right now is that he’s alive, and later I’ll worry about if he’s happy.”

“I want him to be happy,” Bard said.

“And that’s why I’m currently giving you the benefit of the doubt.”

The corner of Bard’s mouth twitched but he nodded. “Thank you.”

“Yeah well,” Ori said, looking away. “Now I really need coffee.”

“Not tea?” Bard asked, almost teasing because he was still too wound up inside.

“No, it’s really a coffee day,” Ori said and started walking again, Bard slowly falling in behind him.

-0-

Galadriel found Thranduil on the balcony at the top of the house, though the stars were far more distant and dim, the city slowly getting the power turned back on block by block. “You childe sounds like he might leave us.”

“Not for a while yet,” Thranduil said. “Though he and the hunter have an idea that might take them very far away.”

“I’m surprised you told them,” she said, folding down beside him, her white standing out starkly against the roof.

“I suppose they were as well,” Thranduil said.

Galadriel folded her arms and looked up at the sky. “Will you stay?” she asked, long blonde hair pulled into a simple braid.

“I have no where else to go,” he said, hands folded in his lap.

“You never had to live like this, you know,” Galadriel said. “So alone, so stand offish. You had—and still have—childer who love you, for all your faults and sins. And yet you refuse to unbend, to heal the broken pieces of your grief and keep living.”

Thranduil turned to stare at her. “That’s not—”

“The world is going to become a lot harsher,” she said. “Consider that it is better to live for something instead of only surviving. Because simple survival is going to become much harder.”

Instead of responding he seemed to consider that. “And what would you suggest instead?”

“Everyone needs something to fight for,” she said. “Consider what yours is.”

“Is a pep talk really why you came up here?” Thranduil asked, frowning.

“I think there are times when we have not gotten along,” Galadriel said. “But your ill advised actions and reckless disregard for my warnings might have just saved the world. You were right about the hunter, even though you might have considered being honest from the first.” She shook her head, almost more to herself. “Honestly, you and Gandalf are two of a kind.”

“I think I was complimented and then terribly insulted,” Thranduil said.

“But the world is still here,” she said. “I don’t think your father would have ever wanted this for you.”

Thranduil tensed, hands curling into fists in his lap. “He didn’t give us the chance to find out, did he?”

“Find something better than grief to live for,” Galadriel said, rising. “Because the world still needs us, and you.”

“You said earlier you suspected the final portal might have opened where Sauron’s ring was,” Thranduil said, looking into the darkness. “There was no other site of power or ancient magic there. If it was there, where is it now?”

“I do not know,” she admitted.

“Either way it means he’s going to come for it,” Thranduil said, voice and face totally blank.

“Is it still not better to love than to simply exist?” Galadriel asked and Thranduil shot her a lightning look, almost too fast to be seen.

“You can still say that, even now?”

“Because I’m alive,” she said. “And I would have not given up a single year of what we had. Celeborn may not stand beside me anymore, but at least I remember what it felt like when he did. You? You drove Tauriel away and never let Kili inside.”

“Love,” Thranduil repeated. “What a small word for such a large, unfathomable concept.”

“Even Erestor loves,” Galadriel said.

“Are you suggesting I find my own Glorfindel?”

“I have no idea what you’ll find,” Galadriel said, the corner of her mouth twisting.

“Perhaps something very different from that,” Thranduil said after a beat and Galadriel looked like in another time she might have laughed at that.

“I think as long as it’s safe,” Galadriel said, looking at the sky again. “Perhaps we should live outside of town for a while next. Where we can see the stars.”

Thranduil looked over at her and then the sky. “That would be nice,” he said finally.

She nodded, still standing as he sat, and they both looked at the sky.

-0-

The next morning Bard entered Fili’s hospital room. He and Ori had not only had coffee, but at some point that had turned into actual drinking. After a while, though Bard was fuzzy on exactly when, Dwalin had appeared, looking for Ori who had turned his phone off at some point.

Instantly Ori had leaned against his chest, looking at him with the biggest eyes Bard had ever seen. “You still like me right? I didn’t fuck it up, right?”

“Is that why you’re drinking?” Dwalin had asked.

“No,” Ori shook his head. “Drinking because of Fili. You haven’t _answered_ though—”

“Of course I still like you,” Dwalin rumbled and Ori seemed to finally relax, sagging against him. “You’d have to try a lot harder than that.”

“Don’t wanna try,” Ori mumbled. “That was the point I think. That I’m not trying—”

And Bard had just downed another drink rather than wonder what quarrel they were having.

When he’d been dropped off back home just before dark, Beorn had laughed at him before helping him into bed. “You probably needed something like that.”

“Thanks for watching the kids,” Bard mumbled. Beorn shook his head, almost fond before he started walking toward the door. “You keep hinting—Do you really think having Fili live here would be a good idea?”

“I guess it depends on which good you expect to come from it,” Beorn said and Bard didn’t want to touch the infinite sympathy in his voice, let alone figure out if it was for him or Fili.

So now Bard sat down beside Fili, who blinked over at him from where the news was on again. “You look terrible,” Fili said, frowning.

“Does Ori usually decide drinking is the solution to his problems?”

“Uh,” Fili blinked at him. “Once, when he was fifteen. And then he swore himself to tea.”

“Tea is a good choice,” Bard decided and Fili finally turned off the television.

“I thought he seemed a little odd last night,” he said.

Bard glanced at the blank screen. “I’m surprised you’re still watching the news.”

Fili looked away. “Everyone realizing what the world is like has been fascinating,” he said. “I wish—I wish there was a way to help people.”

They both paused, because one of the nurses had stopped at the door, but instead of coming in, she placed a bunch of white flowers on the pile already there and left.

“They keep doing that,” Fili said, faintly.

“They watched you save the world,” Bard said.

“I’m not some kind of saint,” Fili said, looking over at him. “They don’t know me at all. They have no idea and yet—”

“You fought for them,” Bard said. “You risked your life to protect them. Maybe that’s not enough to be a saint to you, but maybe they just want to thank you.”

“You were there too,” Fili said, eyes going back to the ever growing pile at his doorway.

“But I didn’t do what you did,” Bard said.

Fili rubbed the back of his left hand over his face, his fingers unable to fully close anymore. “I’m not much of a hero.”

“According to Ori, you always were.”

“I’m a fucked up kid who can’t stop fighting because I’ve known nothing else,” Fili said. “Heroes have to care, don’t they?” His voice broke on the end.

“You’re talking about intent,” Bard said. “But what you did was heroic, no matter how you look at it.” Fili looked away. “Besides, you cared about Tilda, didn’t you? You wanted to protect them, you told me that.”

“How,” Fili said, looking out the window at the pale morning light. “How are they?”

“Tilda misses you,” Bard said. “Bain even wants to come see you.”

“And the house? How is that?” Fili asked, and Bard paused, weighing his options one last time before deciding he should never have started weighing them in the first place.

“The house is good,” Bard said. “Working on building a fence. A very tall fence around the whole place. Could be good for keeping the media out.”

“The media has been bothering you?” Fili asked in alarm.

“No,” Bard said. “But they’re going to be on you the second you walk out of here.”

Fili stared at him blankly for several long moments, as if he couldn’t parse what Bard was implying. “But, you’re acting like—”

“I meant to ask more gracefully than that,” Bard said. “If you want to move in with me.”

“What?” Fili managed when he got his voice back.

“Do you want to move in with me and the kids?”

“I,” Fili kept trying to find the right words for what he wanted to say, Bard waiting. “I think you’re expecting something out of me I’m not certain I can _give_.”

“I want your strength,” Bard said softly. “I want your warmth with Tilda. I want you to have the space to heal and figure out what you want. It doesn’t have to be forever.”

“You also,” Fili started and stopped. “I don’t know if I could ever, when you kissed me you said you—you would wait but I don’t—”

“I care about you,” Bard said simply, because there was no reason to deny that fact to either of them. “And I can’t say if you did decide you were ready, someday, that I wouldn’t celebrate that. I would… I would love to have a relationship with you. But that’s not what I’m asking for. I don’t have to have you in exactly that way to care about you. I want you safe, I want you as happy as you can be. If I’m part of that, yeah, but I’m not asking you for that. If we stay friends all the years from now that’s enough too.”

“You say the strangest things sometimes,” Fili said after he swallowed a few times.

“It’s not that strange,” Bard said, taking his hand and Fili let him. “You just don’t expect me to wait for you.”

“I admit the thought is strange,” Fili said. “Waiting for something that might never be.”

“But that’s not what I’m doing,” Bard said. “I’m offering a friend a safe place, where he might be happy. All I need is your friendship.”

Fili frowned at him before looking down at their hands. “But also, perhaps a lover.”

“Someday,” Bard shrugged. “Maybe. But I don’t need more than this.”

Fili finally lifted his eyes again. “As I said. Strangest things…”

Bard leaned forward, kissing Fili’s temple and Fili tensed before his shoulders sagged. “Think about it,” Bard said and Fili nodded, eyes a dark storm as Bard stood up. “I heard you still have a few more days before they release you.”

“Yeah,” Fili agreed weakly and Bard wanted to stay, wanted to hold him like Bofur had the day before, but he offered another hopeful smile and left. He startled to realize Dwalin was standing against the wall on the other side of the door where there wasn’t glass.

“Are you hiding from him?” Bard asked and Dwalin shrugged. “Or just eavesdropping?”

“A family like ours and you learn to eavesdrop pretty quick,” Dwalin said, unconcerned at being called out. “Besides, Ori mentioned something about this this morning.”

“About what?” Bard asked.

“About giving Fili a place,” Dwalin said.

“Do you disapprove?” Bard asked and he had pulled the door closed behind him so he hoped Fili wasn’t also getting the chance to eavesdrop.

“It’s hard to tell,” Dwalin said. “I think it would be better for him, as much as I resent the idea he may be far away from me at all, especially when he’s hurting. I wasn’t here when Kili was turned the first time so giving his grief to someone else to cope with feels like another betrayal.”

“I’m not trying to take him away from you,” Bard said, half a protest.

“I know,” Dwalin said, arms crossed over his chest and shaking his head. “It doesn’t make it easier, wanting to protect him so bad and knowing that I’m probably not the right one to do it.”

“Dwalin,” Bard said, remembering vaguely when he’d wondered if Dwalin hadn’t been the one making Fili so distrustful and wary, or if Dwalin was a danger. Even Fili and Ori’s words at the dinner only a few days ago had done little to dissuade him, but the careful way Dwalin had sat holding Fili’s hand when they weren’t sure he was ever going to wake up, or the gentle way he’d ushered Ori home the night before had finally.

“I approve, if that’s what you were worried about,” Dwalin said. “Doesn’t make it easier is all.”

“I’ll try to prove your faith in me,” Bard said.

“It’s not really faith,” Dwalin said, before pushing the door to Fili’s room open and closing it behind himself.

-0-

“Gandalf,” Galadriel said, meeting him at the door since for once he’d bothered to come at night.

“That’s not what you used to call me,” he said, stopped and leaning heavily on his staff.

“Every age or so you insist upon a new name,” she said. “Who am I to deny you that?”

He chuckled, no humor behind it. “Yes, I suppose this that's true. Even though when I first arrived you still called me Mithrandir.”

“Well, it's a new age now isn't it?” she said and he seemed to lean even harder against his own staff.

“Yes,” he agreed quietly. “It's an entirely new age again.”

She nodded, confirmation of something she already knew. “We have kept in contact with the hunters. These portals did more than simply unleash demons, they weakened the very fabric that holds the worlds together. The last time it was like this—”

“All the realms are weaker to each other,” Gandalf said. “The world will have to find a way to cope.”

“We were able to strengthen the barriers once before,” Galadriel said, sounding doubtful if she thought they had any chance of matching that again.

“Our world has changed since then,” Gandalf said. “It will have to be much worse before it could be better.”

“So we brace ourselves for the worst,” she said with a nod as they wandered into the parlor off the side of the foyer, where they might be overheard less.

“It's worse than that,” Gandalf said and Galadriel paused, tilting her head at him.

“Old friend,” she started.

“We were right,” Gandalf said. “About the final portal, and where it opened.”

Galadriel froze, inhumanly still. “We posited that Sauron's ring might have been there,” she said slowly, cautiously. “But that was mad talk, brought on by a lack of options. There are thousands of other artifacts, other constructs—”

Gandalf shook his head and she stilled again. “I saw it,” he said. “I know who has it.”

“We have rediscovered his ring of power?” Galadriel demanded. “Where is it? Gandalf—”

“It's gone to the land of the Fae,” Gandalf said and Galadriel stared at him, flabbergasted, an expression that had not graced her face in centuries.

“Have you lost whatever mind you might have had?” she demanded. “You saw it, you know who holds it, and you sent it off to the land of the fairies?”

“It will be safer there than anywhere else,” he said, leaning against his staff again.

“The fae are not known to be uncorruptable,” Galadriel snapped. “In fact it is considered to be in their nature.”

“What other option do you think I had?” Gandalf said. “He had no idea what he held, simply that it was useful, and perhaps that it had a strange hold on him. But of all the fae he is the one I would trust. There is no better place to hide it either.”

“Time passes differently in their world,” Galadriel said after a moment. “Tis slower there.”

“Perhaps that will give us all more time,” Gandalf said.

“You're still taking quite a risk,” she said, steely hardness in her voice.

“And what would have been the better option?” Gandalf asked. “For me to take it myself? M'lady you know as well as I why that would have been impossible.”

“The world has already changed quite a bit,” Galadriel said. “And now _that_.”

“Do you trust me?” Gandalf asked and for a moment they stared at each other in silence, both weighing each other.

“Celeborn would not have,” she said, eventually. “But yes, I trust you.”

“I will watch out for him,” Gandalf said softly. “And the ring.”

“I suppose it is better to know,” Galadriel allowed after another long moment of stiff silence. “Than to constantly wander if he may come back, if his ring still exists. We won't be blindsided this way.”

“You'll have time,” Gandalf said. “It will not be many years.”

“But what will happen to the world in the meantime?” Galadriel asked, turning back toward the door.

“Terrible things,” Gandalf said and she nodded, not surprised.

“I will tell the others,” she said. “Our continued alliance with the hunters possibly just became even more important, all over again.”

For a moment Gandalf rested a hand on Galadriel's shoulder and she allowed it. “You must have faith,” Gandalf said. “Faith in the world, in the people in it. It will not be kings or armies that save us, but the actions of individuals, those who take courage against the growing dark. Even the smallest soul can change the world.”

“You have such faith,” Galadriel said, shaking her head slightly.

“I find it better to have faith than doubt,” Gandalf said and she slowly smiled.

“Perhaps I'll remember how,” she said and Gandalf's mouth twitched, finally turning into a real smile of his own.

He left moments later, Galadriel sweeping back into the foyer where the rest of the vampires had gathered, Legolas standing closer to Thranduil than usual, Elrond with Elladan and Elrohir clustered next to each other and Arwen standing alone but straight backed at the bottom of the stairs, closest to Galadriel. At the top, Erestor stood with his arms crossed and Glorfindel protective over his shoulder.

And pride opened up in her chest, blooming out to see those that remained, still together.

They would survive like they always had, she swore to herself. “Sauron is coming,” she said, Erestor tipping his chin back and Elrond going still. “But we have time,” she promised.

-0-

“You'll have to keep coming back for physical therapy,” the doctor said and Fíli nodded, distracted and not really much paying attention. “For your arm, and your hand. I'm not sure what we can do, but we'll try our best.”

“Thank you,” Fíli said, a bit dully as Ori and Dwalin appeared at his room.

“Ready to finally be out of here?” Ori asked, forcibly chipper.

Fíli looked at him and then nodded. “Yeah,” he said, low, shifting uncomfortably in the wheelchair he had been forced into. He glanced up at the doctor. “But I can walk as soon as we reach the door, right?”

“I don't really recommend it—”

Fíli stared at him, something set in his jaw.

The doctor relented after a moment. “Yes, though you haven't been walking much. Be careful.”

“Bard's already there with the car,” Ori said, and he fussed with Fíli again, making sure his hair was brushed back from his face until Fíli batted his hands away, Dwalin taking control of pushing the wheelchair.

“Are you ready for this?” Dwalin asked, after they had traveled the hallways of the hospital almost in silence, except for the number of hospital personal who had come to watch them go.

“Would I ever be?” Fíli asked, after a moment's consideration.

“Probably not,” Dwalin agreed. “We would have tried going out the back but honestly it's just as bad.”

Fíli took a breath, chest expanding before he carefully stood up from the wheelchair, facing the door. “As I said, Bard should already be there,” Ori said, looking at where the crowd of reporters had camped out and not left since Fíli had been brought in. “And we're right here.”

“It's not that I'm afraid, Ori,” Fíli said and Ori gave him a queasy look.

“I know,” he said.

Fíli looked at the doorway and back to Dwalin and Ori. “It really is a different world out there, isn't it?”

“Yes,” Dwalin said, flexing his hands. “One they watched you save.”

Fili's mouth thinned again but he nodded, walking through the door and out into the weak January sunlight, catching the gold of his hair as all the reporters seemed to notice him at once. For a moment the mass of them seemed to stun to move and Fíli made it halfway down the stairs before they started clustering closer, snapping pictures and yelling questions.

For a moment Fíli faltered, staring out at them and past, to where others had gathered, some of them holding candles and more flowers and watching quietly.

“Are you happy to be out of the hospital?” one reporter asked, closest to Fíli.

“What will you do now?” another yelled at Fíli, who looked between them in silence.

“What I've always done I suppose,” he said finally, and he felt Dwalin's hand on his shoulders, could feel the tremors in his fingers.

“And what is that?” the reporter asked, waving a microphone in front of Fili's face but Fíli only brushed it aside, continuing down the stairs.

“Save the world, apparently,” Ori said, acerbic, and Fíli hesitated a moment from where he had reached the door of the car, looking back at Ori before sliding inside.

“Are you ready to go home?” Bard asked and Fíli stared at him for a long moment, cradling his left hand in his right again.

“Yes,” he settled for finally, still not certain if he meant it, but hoping he would. “Yes I am.”

 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [We Must Not Look At Goblin Men, We Must Not Buy Their Fruits.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1119532) by [hairdye_silverfindings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hairdye_silverfindings/pseuds/hairdye_silverfindings)




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